San Juan Island, home base for our students during the program, is a part of the San Juan Archipelago in the northwest corner of the continental United States.  There are over 450 islands in the archipelago, but fewer than one-sixth are inhabited, and only six are accessible by public ferry.

San Juan Island is well known for its saltwater shore, quiet woodlands, and killer whales.  It’s home to one of the world's best sites for land-based whale watching, Lime Kiln State Park.

The San Juan Archipelago lies in the center of a rain shadow cast by the mountains of the Olympic Peninsula to the southwest. This area gets 30% of the annual rainfall received by Seattle and is generally warm and dry.