It's a zoo...

No, not because of all the wildlife.

We had an early charter today.  An hour before departure, there were no whale reports; a half hour later, we had a report and it was pretty close.

When I visited with the family who had chartered the boat (nice people, from Russia), the only thing they wanted to see: (of course) Orcas.  They were excited to know that the prospects were very good.

On the way to the whales, we stopped to see some seals (still some little pups out there), eagles (juvenile and mature bald eagles),  and some Stellar Sea Lions...

The Orcas weren't far away.  When we got to them, there were 3 other boats on the scene.  Within a couple minutes, it looked like an armada coming at us from the west - it is obvious that there is nothing to see in the Victoria area, it was all those boats coming at us.  It seemed like a crazy amount of boats...

That is just a small fraction of all the boats that were there.  Even Vessel Assist was out there...

I can't imagine any of the whales needed to be towed.  ;-)  It was just one of those days that the area was clogged with commercial and private boats - you know this was the only whale game in town.  I wasn't able to get any whale photos due to the proximity of all the whale boats.  We stayed with the members of K-Pod for almost an hour.  I asked the naturalist to see if the people were interested in seeing a Minke whale?  The conditions were very pleasant - the reasonably calm water is great for spotting Minkes.  The guests were all for seeing this Minke whale we talked about.

Fortunately, the Minke we found was not as shy as most.  Certainly, as fast as most, but at least it traveled a fairly straight course.  After several good viewings of the Minke, I took us back to the Orcas, who by now had now reversed direction.  Over half the boats that were there earlier were gone, so the viewing was WAY more pleasant.

The guests asked the naturalist if we could go see more seals on the way home.  Seems that they have fresh water seals where they are from, and they were kinda missing them.  No problem, I knew right where to find plenty of seals...

A beautiful day, and a pretty easy trip.

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We had fun at the party at the boss's place last night.  The food was good, and it was nice to visit with some of the other staff that we don't get to see.  He handed out some goodies for returning staff (Joan and I both got personalized hoodies - very nice), then did something I thought was really cool: he had a bunch of prizes to give away; in order to win one, someone had to nominate you and tell why you deserve a special treat.  The big container he had was stuffed full of names (you could nominate as many people as you wanted)... the prizes ranged from gift certificates at local restaurants to spa days to massages to a stay at a very nice hotel/spa here on the island.  It was fun listening to the reasons people were nominated.  Everyone was having fun hearing the comments, so even though all the prizes had been given away, they passed the container around and continued reading the comments.  It was a very nice team-building concept.

There was a hay ride after the prize giveaways, but some of us had to work early today.  A fun evening.

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On edit: I forgot to mention, in the middle of the armada of boats, 3 of the Blue Angels flew over in a tight formation.  Why not - everyone else was there!  ;-)  The Blue Angels are performing in Seattle this weekend - always draws a BIG crowd.

If you have to work on a scheduled day off...

It might as well be a day like today.

The boss was scheduled to drive this boat... but he is doing a "Staff BBQ and Employee Appreciation Party"... tonight.  He needed to be at his place to get the food going.  When he asked if I would drive today, I said, "Sure."

Turns out, it was a particularly nice day on the boat.  The first mate brought the guests to the boat a bit ahead of schedule.  All nice people - excited to be seeing whales.  And speaking of whales: the first report I got this morning put them a LONG ways away.  As in: the three hour trip would wind up being a five hour trip.  At least.  I came into work a bit early, and another report put a group of whales much closer, and heading the right direction.  The first group of whales had turned around and were moving further away.  The weather was beautiful.  For the first half of the trip, I was only wearing two light layers!  No vest, no jacket.  Nice!

On the way to the whales, we saw a couple eagles posing

Beneath the eagle, there were some Fallow Deer...

Some baby seal pups sunning on the rocks.  And, the whales had moved even closer!  The water was blissfully pleasant.  There were a half dozen boats on the other side of the whales, we had the closer side all to ourselves...

As always, I was being careful to maintain the proper distance.  We had the engine shut down, quietly watching the group moving south.  In 835 feet of water.  When a female swam right up to the boat.  Under the water on one side...

Then the other...

Then she came up for a breath...

Everything is OH-K... this is K-Pod we were viewing.  When it was safe to start up again, we moved a bit south to enjoy more viewing.

After an hour or so with the whales, we moved on... taking the scenic route back to Friday Harbor.  Along the way, we saw more interesting water fowl, including this juvenile bald eagle...

Right near the water's edge.

A fine day on the water!

Evening with friends and downsizing...

I forgot to take photos... I know, without photos, it didn't happen.  Downsizing?  Not us - not right now.

Last night, we got together with our friend Steve and his lady friend onboard Wild Blue.  The four of us sat in the cockpit and visited for a couple hours.  Nice people, and spirited discussion.  Steve is an absolutely brilliant guy; we met last year when I asked him about the small (but very high tech) trimaran he had in a slip not too far from ours.  During our conversation, we found out we have a lot in common.  We have stayed in touch.

He has a very nice, big sailboat - it is made to travel the world.  Steve is looking to "re-size" to something trailerable and was aware of all the places we have been with Wild Blue.  This was an opportunity to introduce Rebecca to the experience of traveling and living (on land and water) in a trailerable cruising boat.  From the look in her eyes, she gets it.

If anyone reading this is looking for a well-equipped world-cruising sailboat, drop me a note - I'll put you in touch with our friend.

http://nomadness.com/

All the conveyances...

We have been getting our three days off each week, just like we agreed on.  Well, until this week.  The owner asked if I could take his boat shift for him tomorrow.  Sure - it's the season.

We had a lot of fun with our trip yesterday.  Working on Wednesday means there are some "both of us" chores that need to get done today.  Turns out, we ran all our motorized conveyances today, with the exception of the dinghy.

First order of business: breakfast out.  We started out with that an hour and a half earlier than usual, to time it so we wouldn't have to wait.  The next task was shopping - Joan planned on a lot of stuff, so we took the truck instead of the scooters.  It was the first time in weeks that we used the truck.  I almost forgot how comfortable Big Red is.  We took care of a few other "running around" errands while we had the truck out.

Back to the boat, and it was time for our weekly "once around the harbor" with a stop at the pump-out.  Wild Blue hasn't been getting many hours on the motor this season.  Back from that, it was boat-clean-up time.

This afternoon, I was needing some scooter time.  No time to take them off island this week, but we have our favorite roads here on the island.  Scoots uncovered, getting ready to ride...

Through town...

In spite of being deep into the tourism season, the roads around the island were reasonably light on traffic.  Well, we stayed off the main roads...

On the west side, we stopped to check out the views of Haro Strait...

I did do a little "work"... we saw whales, and there were no boats with them.  I sent a text to the boss, giving him location and direction.  Up the road a ways, we found a small turnout that we haven't seen before...

 

The view from that spot...

We took turns leading the way.  Joan took us by the lavender farm - I thought, for sure, she was going to stop... nope, right on by.  More riding...

We stopped for pizza for an early supper.  Fueled up the scoots - we both bested 100 mpg.  

Tomorrow, I will be working.  Well, Joan will be "working," too, but around our boat... the list of "honey-do" projects she would have left for me is her list now.  ;-)

Know it all...

We heard a guy on the dock by our boat expounding about whale watching...

"Oh, it's all political - the whales don't care about boats.  In other places, you can drive right up to the whales.  Blah, blah, blah..."  He was trying to impress his non-boating friends as they were walking down the dock, and he gave his opinion of each boat they passed.

Sounds like he could be one of those who feels it is his God-given right to drive his boat any damn place he wants.  Research shows that the biggest threats to the whales are a diminishing food source and toxins in the water.  It also shows that respectful whale watching doesn't change their feeding behavior.  Respectful means not roaring up on them; not blasting a bunch of noise into the water (by running fast and loud); not speeding to get in front of them, then shutting down.

They are moving to eat.  Get between me and my pizza, and there may be an issue.  I understand their plight.

Sadly, the Southern Resident Killer Whales are also some of the most toxin laden mammals.  Then need all the help (and protection) we can give them.

For about a nano-second, I considered stepping out of our boat to have a conversation with Mr. Know-It-All.  Then, I remembered that saying I am trying to emulate: Not my circus, not my monkeys.  Oh, and: you can't fix stupid.

It's my day off.  I only get two this week, so I have to make them count.  Hard to beat yesterday, but I'm pretty sure having a "battle of wits with an unarmed man" wouldn't be a high point.  ;-)

It's the journey...

Joan wanted to do a seaplane trip to Seattle for my birthday... the timing didn't work out.  Then, the weather didn't work out.  Then, the President was in Seattle, and that shut down some of the airspace.  Yep, timing.

Today is the day.

The day started out clear and beautiful...

We were up early enough that it was a leisurely morning before heading to the seaplane dock.  Some of you may know that I was a pilot for a lot of years.  I enjoy airplanes.  Seaplanes are a lot of fun.  I do not enjoy flying commercial... any place you sit in the plane that isn't in the cockpit means you are "cargo."  Small planes, however, are different.  And, flying with Kenmore Air, you don't have to go through all that TSA crap.  Or, be there two hours early.  Or, take off your shoes and belt.

I didn't care where we were going, I was excited about the seaplane.  The Blonde, too.  Heading down the dock...

Yes, shorts - it is that nice.  We were at the seaplane dock at the time we were told - we knew there would be a short wait for the plane...

Then, the sound of a turbo-prop approaching...

I was excited to see the Evening Show plane - it looks sharp!  There were 9 of us waiting at the dock.  The pilot got out and called one woman's name.  He put her on the plane, said, "Your plane should be here any minute," and took off.  Pretty sure the rest of us looked dumbfounded.

Sure enough, a couple minutes later, our plane showed up...

Yeah, that one doesn't look as big or as classy.  I looked at the plane, looked at the 8 people still on the dock, and said to Joan, "Someone isn't getting on that plane."  The pilot called out our names, then 4 other people.  One couple said, "What about us?"

The pilot said, "Your plane should be coming soon."

This plane is a Beaver.  Tough as nails, a cool radial engine, but not a lot of room.  Joan and I took the two back seats, one guy sat next to the pilot, and three people squeezed into the middle seats...

The pilot handed out earplugs and said, "You're going to need these - this plane is really loud."

He wasn't kidding.  That big ol' radial roared.  We took off into the crisp morning sky...

Joan was loving it...

Probably because we had a LOT more room than those three in the middle seats.  ;-)  The views were gorgeous...

We flew at about 1,500 feet most of the way.  Arriving at Seattle...

The approach to Lake Union...

At the Kenmore Dock...

We took the short, scenic walk to get on the "trolley"... most places call this "light rail"... it was an easy trip to the middle of downtown...

At the end of the trolley stops, we headed off on foot.  The plan was to wander through Pike Market, check out the waterfront (been a few years since we've been there), do a little shopping, munch our way through town, then fly back.  This truly wasn't about Seattle, as much as it was about going somewhere by seaplane.

A couple city views...

Yep - we are in Seattle...

Pike Place Market...

Looking towards the waterfront...

Beecher's Cheese ('cause man does not live by bread alone)...

Apparently Pike Market isn't sanitary, 'cause this place promotes it...

It's a good thing we flew in; I don't think I can afford to park...

Joan wanted to shop at Patagonia.  The stuff isn't cheap, but it is nice (a lot of our work clothes are Patagonia).  End of the season (?), they had some good sales.  We spent about a week's salary there... yeah, we know how to layer!  ;-)

We ate our way through Mexican earlier, then Italian.  It was fun just walking around town.  As the afternoon wore on, we took the trolley back towards Lake Union.  Along the way, we went by a large Guitar Center.  No, there is nothing I need, but it was fun to look around...

I played some Martins and Taylors.  Nothing to compete with that new 522ce 12-fret.

It is a short walk from there back to the Kenmore terminal/dock.  Along the way, we stopped to people watch - people enjoying the sunshine on a beach (well, not South Padre Island kinda beach, but it was near the water on Lake Union), people paddleboarding, sailing, planes landing and taking off...

Kenmore has a small patio area where you can sit outside while waiting for your flight...

15 minutes before our scheduled departure, they called our names and we were on our way to the plane.  This time, it was an Otter; a turbo-prop, more spacious than the Beaver we came in on.  Only 4 of us in a 10 passenger plane.  The pilot asked, "Anyone want to sit up here?"

"Yes, I do!"  It's been a while since I've been in the cockpit... I kinda liked it.

In about 50 minutes, we were landing at Friday Harbor...

A fun day!  Sure beats waiting in line for the ferry.  I enjoy the ferry ride, but then there would be an hour and a half to two hours getting to Seattle.  Trying to find parking.  Then the long schlep back to Anacortes to wait for the ferry.  Fun and easy... beautiful views... and just fun!  :-)