What a show!!

While prepping the boat, I got a report that the whales were on the other side of the island, heading north.  I planned to go north to intercept them.  When I was ready to shove off, another report said they had changed direction and were moving south.  Like I've said before: it's like playing chess.  We turned south.


Today, we made the right moves.  We saw plenty of other wildlife on the way to the whales, and they had moved south fast enough that it made our time to get to them shorter than I had anticipated.  K-Pod, and they were active.  Breaches don't happen all the time; today, I counted 6 in less than 2 minutes... and we had a ringside seat!

One big male didn't follow the rules... he made a 90º turn under water and came up close to the boat... close, as in: the guests gasped when that huge dorsal fin came up, followed by one very big Orca.  Our naturalist got a good view of the saddle patch and identified him as Deadhead.

About the only thing they didn't do today was form a chorus line and do a dance with kicks like the Rockettes!  Yes, it really was that good.

To top it off, the weather and sea conditions were perfect.  The day started off overcast, but the clouds broke and we had plenty of blue sky as we departed.  Very little wind.  And Haro Strait was nearly calm... as was Cattle Pass on our way out.

Coming back in, Cattle Pass was a little churned up, but the current was in our favor - I pulled the power back to 70% and was still doing 5 knots more than our normal high cruise speed.

Truly, a fine day. 

Oh, and this evening, Joan took me out for ice cream.  :-)

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Walking down the dock towards our boat, there was a dad carrying a young girl on his shoulders.  She was sniffling and on the verge of crying.  He told her, "You need to stop that right now!"

She didn't.  In fact, the sobbing started in earnest.  The dad said, "I mean it - you're working yourself up!  Stop it!  Now!"

I have no idea what she was crying about, but she did reel it back in a bit.  A short time later, she said, "Daddy, I love you."

My heart absolutely melted.  I could tell his did, too, when he answered much sweeter, "I love you, too."

I had to give my daughter a call when we got back to the boat.  I just wanted to hear her say that, too.  Yeah, it still melts my heart.


:-)