I like to tell folks, "Most people spend most of their time in the Beardslee Islands, lost.” But this is not as true as it used to be, thanks to better maps and GPS units. Still, from the low vantage point of a sea kayak the constantly changing high tide / low tide shoreline gets pretty confusing. One of my friends got within a 15 minute paddle of Bartlett Cove but couldn't find the narrow passageway that serves as a shortcut between the two areas. He ended up paddling three hours the long way around to arrive in Bartlett Cove in the dark (and very tired!) Still, he returned to explore the Beardslees again just a few weeks later. It is a mythical landscape - pick an island and you'll probably have it all to yourself, watch the seals swim by, hang with the oystercatchers, wait for an orca on the hunt or search the tide pools for a octopus. It's all there... Photographer: Bill Eichenlaub