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World Orca Day: We're sharing our favorite stories, videos and destinations featuring unforgettable encounters with orcas
🏆 Grand Canyon river guide shatters records on solo row from California to Hawaii
Grand Canyon River Guide Shatters Records On Solo Row From California To Hawaii
Kelsey Pfendler spent nearly 44 days crossing the mid-Pacific in a 21-foot boat
When Kelsey Pfendler pushed off from California, she hoped to reach Hawaii in under 70 days. Her solo row across the mid-Pacific over the next 44 days shattered speed records and her own expectations. “Bodies are amazing, and I do believe that women are really good at endurance sports. We’re super capable of dealing with pain and emotional regulation under stress. Just what a body can do—we don’t even know,” Pfendler told ESPN in an interview reflecting on her trip.
Pfendler, a 32-year-old Grand Canyon river guide, is now the fastest person to complete a solo row across the mid-Pacific and the first American woman to do so.
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A Baffin Vacation, Love On Ice: Inside The Best Adventure Film Of 2026
Sarah McNair-Landry and Erik Boomer on how their 69-day multisport holiday came about and what it's like adventuring with your significant other
Choice in tripmate can make or break even a weekend canoe trip in Algonquin Park, let alone a multiweek expedition in a remote location. For couple Sarah McNair-Landry and Erik Boomer, they found the perfect adventure partner in each other. Since they started dating more than a decade ago, they’ve been on 10-plus big trips together.
In 2022, they embarked on a 69-day expedition on Canada’s Baffin Island, skiing mountains, kite skiing the frozen ocean, climbing rock walls and crossing glaciers to find never-before-paddled rivers to whitewater kayak.
You can watch McNair-Landry and Boomer’s epic adventure in the film A Baffin Vacation, Love on Ice, which is touring in the 2026 Paddling Film Festival and won Best Adventure Film, sponsored by Kokopelli.
With years of remote expeditions under their belts and various extreme sports within their skill sets, the pair have a lot of options at their disposal when planning a trip. McNair-Landry says sometimes they start with a destination and decide what activities to do while there…
World Orca Day
To celebrate World Orca Day, we're sharing our favorite stories, videos and destinations featuring unforgettable encounters with orcas, including close calls, breathtaking photos and top paddling spots in whale country.
Astonishing Close Encounter For
A Lucky Group Of Paddlers
When a group of kayak guides in New Zealand, who seek to show others whales and wildlife, actually came face to face with a pod of orcas, even they had trouble finding the words to express their astonishment.
Way-Too-Close Encounter With Orca (Video)
While paddling off Kuaotunu Beach, Lukas Reilly captured the moment a curious orca surfaced to inspect—and briefly bite—the back of his paddleboard in footage later submitted to the GoPro Awards.
4 Best Places To Kayak With Whales
Dip your paddle in the same water as a whale’s giant flukes.
Kayakers Surrounded By Orcas In Remarkable Close Encounter Near Vancouver
Guide Rhiannon Henley captured the awe-filled moment a pod of orcas approached a group of kayakers, gliding just feet away and beneath their boats.
Experience BC’s Wildlife Wonders By Water
From rugged coasts to wild rivers, these six destinations combine adventure and appreciation for the wild kingdom.
Go Kayaking With Whales In Telegraph Cove
Paddle the sheltered waters of Telegraph Cove for an unforgettable wildlife safari, where orcas, humpback whales and sea lions await around every island.
Sublime Encounters With Orcas In Norway
Tommy Simonsen on how he took the most beautiful paddleboarding photo we've ever seen
By: Virginia Marshall
At the edge of twilight, a lone paddleboarder glides among giant orcas on the coast of Norway. Above her, snowy mountains bathed in warm light pierce a pink and violet sky.
Images like this don’t happen by chance in the fjords of Arctic Norway. Capturing elusive orcas amid spellbinding scenery and magical, fleeting light at the top of the world is Tommy Simonsen’s specialty. For the Norwegian landscape, wildlife and documentary photographer, the Arctic’s capricious weather and fickle light hold the key to its enduring appeal.
“Much of November, December and January, the sun simply doesn’t appear above the horizon,” Simonsen explains. “But for a brief time just before the sun disappears in November and after it returns in January, the Arctic light is a gift of pastel colors.” During this time of the year, sunrise and sunset linger for as long as two hours…
