Small-scale Ecotours in Washington Introduction to Fossil & Crystal Collecting Thumbnail description: Geologist Bob Jackson has bought some wild spots in the mountains not far from Seattle (and across the border in Canada) where fossils and crystals occur in abundance. Here he invites visitors, especially families with young ones who like to dig in the dirt, to visit, dig, and keep what they find. His digging is part of a plan that "will take 25 years to return the land to near original grade, all the while producing colorful fluorite, barite & quartz crystal specimens, and operating as a geologic education experience for schools within a 100 mile radius." Bob recently won the "Best New Tourism Facility" award from Canada's BC Chamber of Commerce.
Thumbnail description: Host Mike Weatherby says that gunkholing is boaters' jargon for "sailing the islands and anchoring every night," and that's exactly what this easy-paced program is about. Mike is a marine naturalist so he's on hand to explain anything you're wondering about. Otherwise the idea is just to "let the quiet of sail-travel transport you and your party into a kaleidoscope of island magic" and to "reconnect with nature and friends."
Thumbnail description: For three to seven days you explore the ecology of the San Juan Islands by sailboat, dinghy and sandals The sailing is accomplished on the good ship Leviathan, a beautiful and comfortable 43 foot heavy displacement sailboat. The San Juans are in the Puget Sound area of extreme northwestern Washington State, just southeast of Canada's Vancouver Island. The tour is led by former shellfish biologist and present captain Mike Weatherby, and wife Chery rounds out the crew when possible.
Thumbnail description: Surely the purest form of ecotourism is staying home. The enlightened traveler measures not the physical distance traveled, but rather the distance one has come toward understanding nature's unity, nature's beauty, and nature's absolute relevance in each of our lives. In this spirit, we are promoting Dr. Michael Cohen's extremely well thought-out, innovative and thoroughly relevant program for resensetizing ourselves to nature. Return to US State Index |