Not long ago I completed a project of paddling every foot of
Puget Sound shoreline and islands -- something like 1000 miles.
I caught myself before the strange obsession extended itself to
the San Juans.

Over those two years I saw about ten otters. The sightings
were north, south, Hood Canal, Whidbey, etc. Naturally
there were far more than I saw, but I never had the
sense that they were very common. There were many
hundreds of Harbor Seals and scores of California Sea
Lions, maybe one Elephant Seal.

On the other hand, I saw only two coyotes and three deer. If
we were to draw conclusions about abundance from those numbers
we would go sadly awry. Maybe the same applies for the otters.

-Tully Hammill