Sea Kayaking the San Juan Islands
July 16-19, 2009
Tour Guides & Staff
The San Juan paddling tour will be led by two professional guides from Outdoor Odysseys and accompanied by Macalester's associate director of Alumni Relations.
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| Tom Blevins |
Tom Murphy |
Stephen Sporer |
Tom Blevins
Blevins is a 30-year resident of San Juan Island and is in his third year of leading paddling tours through Outdoor Odysseys. He has an intimate knowledge of the waters and land of the more than two hundred forested islands, rocks and nature reserves that make up the San Juan archipelago. He is a certified ropes course instructor and US Sailing instructor.
As a paddling guide, he has witnessed the establishment of a nesting pair of peregrine falcons and has followed, by chance, a small pod of orca whales for nearly 10 minutes.
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Tom Murphy
Murphy has over six years experience working in the San Juan Islands and is in his fifth year as a guide for Outdoor Odysseys. He graduated from Lawrence University with a degree in Biology in 2003 and spent a year and a half overseas, traveling through India, working for an NGO in Nepal and teaching elementary students science in an outdoor classroom in the Swiss Alps. He enjoys sharing his knowledge and love of the area and paddling with novices and seasoned kayakers alike.
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Stephen Sporer
Stephen is associate director of Alumni Relations and usually is busy planning events for alumni living in the Twin Cities, Chicago, Washington, D.C., and New York City. He also organizes programming for Macalester Alumni of Color, Young Alumni, Scots Pride, and various Reunion class committees. His goal is to connect and reconnect Macalester alumni to the college and each other.
Originally from Iowa, Sporer has lived in San Antonio and New York City. He is an actor, film critic, singer and lover of all things pop culture — especially film, theater and music. This will be his first experience sea kayaking. He is preparing for the trip by taking Tai Chi and telling himself he will not be eaten by a Orca while on the sea.
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