News and Reviews

Kaiyote Tours News and Reviews

Hello Everyone,

How is everyone doing? I hope you're safe and finding fun and interesting things to do.

Olympic Peninsula News: As of today, there are only 5 confirmed Covid-19 cases in Clallam Country; which is most of the northern half of the Olympic Peninsula. Both Olympic National Park and Washington State Parks are currently closed for commercial tours. For those who had tours booked for March and April, we are issuing credit, plus 20%, to reschedule your tour. For example: If you paid $1,000 for a tour, you will receive $1,200 credit for future travel. For tours in May and beyond, we will be taking one month at a time and issuing credit for re-booking, as needed.

On the Olympic Peninsula, some of the best birding areas are on county and state land that is still open to the public and I have been getting out once a day for a walk and bird watching.

Kaiyote and Ed News : As many of you already know, both Ed and I live on our boats. I own a 28 foot sailboat and Ed owns a 30 foot power boat and both boats are set up for "live aboards", meaning our boats have kitchens and bathrooms. Besides helping with "Kaiyote Tours", Ed also works on a tree farm and he is the sole employee on the property, which has enabled him to keep working. I have been hanging out at the marina watching birds and once a day I walk out to the Coast Guard Station which is about 2.5 miles from the marina. I see a lot birds and many are now slowly changing from winter plumage to breeding colors. When the time is right, many of these birds will fly further north to Canada and Alaska for the breeding season. And soon, many birds will start arriving from the south. Recently at the marina, across from where Ed and I keep our boats, Purple Martin nest boxes were installed, see the pictures below for more info. In the photos, the docks below the nest boxes are there for winter storage and will be gone by the time the Purple Martins show up. If Purple Martins are in your area and you have access to water, try putting up some boxes over the water. Purple Martins need help, just like many birds are struggling to find good nesting sights.

These Purple Martin nest boxes are new this year, just put up 2-weeks ago. It might take a couple years for the Martins to find and use these nests. Purple Martins are expected to arrive on the Olympic Peninsula in early April. Purple Martins fly to central South America and the Amazon Basin for the winter months.

Purple Martins are in need of summer nests sites: Often birds like Starlings and House Sparrows out compete Martins for nest sites, but those birds usually won't nest over water, unlike Purple Martins and so by placing the nest boxes over water, it helps to reserve the nest boxes for the Martins and other swallows. I can see the nest boxes from my boat and I am hopeful to see a Purple Martin this year. Pictured in the Dingy is Ed, who helped ferry everyone out to install the boxes.

Future International Travel : If we can't travel now, we can still dream and plan for future travels! Many of you have signed up for tours next fall and for 2021 and presumably by then we will be able to travel. In the mean time, I'm allowing for people to sign-up for trips, without making a deposit. This way you can have something to look forward to, without a financial commitment. When travel returns, you will already be on the trip list and can pay the deposit at that time. This will be the equivalent of a wait-list, until further notice.

No Deposit needed, we can "Pencil you in": If you dreaming of future travel and don't want to make a firm commitment until things settle down, we can write you on the list and when it is safe to travel again, we will already have you on the trip list and you can make the deposit at that time.

Tours with Confirmed Departures (People have Signed up!)

Santa Fe Opera and Birding (7 days) Aug 16 – 22, 2020, $3,950

Taiwan Birding and Culture Tour (10 days) Nov 1 – 10, 2020, $3,650

Taiwan Taroko Gorge Birding (4 days) Nov 10 – 13, 2020, $1,050

Nicaragua Cloud Forest Birding (10 days) Jan 12 – 21, 2021, $3,450

El Salvador Birding and Culture Tour (6 days) Jan 23 – 28, 2021, $2,350

Panama Birding the Darien (10 days) February 1 - 10, 2021, $3,850

Sri Lanka Birding and Tranquility (10 days) March 8 – 17, 2021, $3,850

France, Birding Brittany and Paris (10 days) April 6 – 15, 2021, $3,850

Iceland Westfjords Seabird Colonies (10 days) May 11 - 20, 2021, $4,150

Iceland Northeast Birds and Wildlife (10 days) May 21 - 30, 2021, $4,150

Tours Still Waiting For Sign-ups

Sarawak, Borneo: Birding and Trekking (10 days) October 15 – 24, 2020, $3,650

Colombia Andes Birding the High Mountains (10 days) Dec 1 - 10, 2020 $3,850

Stockholm Christmas, Winter Birding and Glögg (8 days) Dec 20 – 27, 2020, $3,650

Estonia New Year's Eve in Tallinn and Seabirds (8 days) Dec 30 – Jan 6, $3,650

India Birding and Wildlife Viewing (10 days) February 25 - March 6, 2021, $3,850

Nepal Birding and Easy Mountain Walks (10 days) March 20 – 29, 2021, $3,750

Iceland Southwest Birds, Waterfalls and Volcanoes (10 days) May 1 - 10, 2021 $4,150

Mongolia Birding, Wildlife Viewing and Culture (10 days) Sept 19 – 28, 2021, $4,150

Would you liked to be added to a trip? No deposit needed until life gets back to normal.

Email me at KaiyoteTours@gmail.com or call 970-556-6103

Reviews: We would love more reviews for our tours from you. Having great Google reviews really helps our website to get on the first page for internet searches and it is good for business too!. If you don't have a Google account, you can email me a review and I will post it on my website. If you have Gmail, you can easily leave a review by searching for "Kaiyote Tours" or there is a link on the "Reviews" page of my website.

Kaiyote and Ed: We are doing great and we are keeping busy with various local projects and looking towards the future. We can't wait to get out again and travel and go adventuring on the Olympic Peninsula and around the world where ever the birds might lead us.