Meet the Kingfisher Team
It is truly our kayak guides and support staff that make the company. They turn a good trip into a fantastic trip. Most of our kayak guides have been with Kingfisher for years and it is because of them that we have many guests returning year after year.
“It actually felt more like being on a trip with friends than with guides. They were of course great guides, cooks, and paddlers, but it was other things that really made the trip special.” K.A. from USA
All of our kayak guides are certified with the Sea Kayak Guides Alliance of British Columbia. As a company we encourage and support our guides in continually improving their kayaking, interpretive and leadership skills to in turn offer you the best kayaking vacation possible.
Considering joining the Kingfisher team? Check out our employment opportunities page.
Andrew Jones
Owner and Level 3 Kayak Guide
With over 30 years of kayaking on both the east and west coasts of Canada, Andrew eagerly shares his passion for kayaking and the wilderness with our guests. As owner of Kingfisher, Andrew’s goal is to ensure all guests have a fantastic time on whichever trip they choose.
Andrew is a past president of the Sea Kayak Guides Alliance of British Columbia, is president of the North Island Marine Mammal Stewardship Association, chairs the Vancouver Island Tourism Advisory Committee, and is a board member of Tourism Vancouver Island.
Andrew is a Certified Level 3 Sea Kayak Guide with the Sea Kayak Guides Alliance of British Columbia and a Level 1 Sea Kayak Instructor and hold Level 4 Sea Kayak Skills with Paddle Canada.
Calvin Coutts
Operations Manager
Laurel Archer
Level 3 Kayak Guide
2026 is Laurel’s eleventh season guiding with Kingfisher. She’s always super excited to head to the Great Bear Rainforest and Haida Gwaii to share these two favourite places for expedition sea kayaking! Currently living on Vancouver Island, Laurel’s paddled coasts and rivers from Central America to Asia, the Arctic and the South Pacific over the past four decades.
Besides writing a thesis for her Masters degree in Education, she’s penned three guidebooks as well as numerous articles published in a wide variety of magazines. She’s a member of the International Explorers Club and Royal Canadian Geographical Society, inducted for her work exploring and documenting historic and lesser-known waterways and promoting their conservation.
A SKGABC Level 3 Sea Kayak Guide with a Class 4 Waters Endorsement, a Guide Trainer and Examiner and a Paddle Canada Level 2 Skills Sea Kayak Instructor, Laurel also races crafts of all kinds whenever possible!
Carter Arlette
Level 3 Kayak Guide
2026 is Carter’s seventh season working with Kingfisher, and he is excited to be out on the water in the traditional territories of the Kwakwaka’wakw and Haida First Nations. A lifelong paddler, he migrated from the lakes and rivers of the Rockies to pursue his love of the ocean and coastal exploration. Since landing, he has explored much of the west side of Vancouver Island and the Central Coast.
With a focus on personal connections to wildlife, natural environments and historical spaces, Carter looks to promote our respectful and informed interaction with the peoples, lands and animals we visit on our trips.
A certified Level 3 Kayak Guide and Guide Trainer with the Sea Kayak Guides Alliance of BC, Carter also holds a degree in Eco-Tourism and Outdoor Leadership from Mount Royal University, has had a thriving career as an outdoor educator, and is a pre-service teacher at Vancouver Island University.
Lee Phillips
Level 3 Kayak Guide
As a SKGABC Level 3 Guide, Lee brings a calm, adaptive leadership style and deep environmental knowledge to every expedition.
He excels at sound decision-making in dynamic conditions while teaching safe travel, expedition craft, and natural history.
Patient, kind, and genuinely fun to be around, Lee inspires confidence and turns any trip into a true adventure.
Joanne Nicolson
Level 3 Kayak Guide
2026 is Jo’s fifth season guiding with Kingfisher.
Jo is a true barnacle, having lived on Vancouver Island all her life. Her passions include kayaking anywhere and everywhere around Vancouver Island and coastal BC, camping, hiking, teaching, cooking, and her cats. She enjoys sharing her enthusiasm for observing and learning about the diverse wildlife we observe on our trips. Jo teaches in an elementary school in Victoria, and coaches kayaking on her ‘days off’. She has been guiding for 14 years.
Jo is a Level 3 SKGABC guide, Level 4 Paddle Canada skills, and Level 2 Paddle Canada instructor. She is a member of SISKA (Victoria kayak club).
Kyle Leis
Level 3 Kayak Guide
Alexander Smith
Level 3 Kayak Guide
Declan Taylor
Level 3 Kayak Guide
Kelsie Maas
Level 2 Kayak Guide
2026 is Kelsie’s tenth seasaon guiding with Kingfisher. Born and raised in Alberta, Kelsie came to British Columbia in 2010, exchanging seas of wheat for the cold, dark seas. What draws Kelsie to paddling on the British Columbian coast is the incredible life that is found here. From the depths of the oceans to the overgrown forests to the people, both past and present, life is rich and abundant. When she is not kayaking, Kelsie can be found in Kamloops, British Columbia, enjoying life in the mountains and working for the Thompson Rivers University’s Adventure Studies Program.
Kelsie is a graduate of Thompson Rivers University’s Adventure Studies Program and is a certified Level 2 guide with the Sea Kayak Guides Alliance of BC.
Alex Howard
Level 2 Kayak Guide
2026 is Alex’s fifth seasaon guiding with Kingfisher.
Brenda Blakely
Level 2 Kayak Guide
2026 is Brenda’s sixth seasaon guiding with Kingfisher.
Matthew Baldwin
Level 2 Kayak Guide
2026 is Matthew’s first seasaon guiding with Kingfisher.
Robin Perron
Level 2 Kayak Guide
2026 is Robin’s first seasaon guiding with Kingfisher.
Emma van Tol
AOG
Lauren VanderPloeg
AOG
Maya Staszelis
AOG
Barbara Chauvet
AOG
Lee Nagle
AOG
Avery Burgess
AOG
