It doesn't always happen...

Whale watching.  You have to have some whales to watch.  And, today was one of those days where there were no reports.  We saw plenty of wildlife: several Peregrine falcons, seals, harbor porpoise, and at least 8 bald eagles.  Oh, it wasn't from lack of trying - we crossed Boundary Pass, and ran along Saturna Island (in Canada)... we have had luck finding transient Orcas or humpbacks in this area.  Not today.  East in Boundary Pass to Haro Strait... more harbor porpoise, but no whales.  And from what was on the radios, no one else was having any luck.

I got a report that J and K-Pods were seen heading out of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, into the Pacific.  Not what I want to hear, because there is no predicting how long they will be out there.

That aside, it was a beautiful day on the water.  The direction we chose to search had us in sunshine and nearly calm water.  Besides the beautiful San Juan Islands and the Canadian Gulf Islands, we saw ship traffic in the straits...

Rounding Turn Point (one of my favorite views in the San Juans)...

Check out how nice the water is in each of those photos.

I think our guests could tell we were working hard for them, doing our best to find whales.  They were very nice, telling us what a great trip they had at the trip's end.  Our naturalist, Sarah, is a delight - able to talk with real enthusiasm about whatever we see.  It makes a difference.

With the boat back at the dock, guests departed, and our cleaning done, Mother Nature decided to send some rain our way.  I've been kind of expecting it tomorrow, but this is the first day I've had to ride the scoot in the rain (on the way home).  It was more sprinkle, but the PCX did a fine job of keeping me reasonably dry - the fairing is shaped to give some protection; the only thing that got wet was the face shield on my helmet, and my shoulders.  I didn't have to put rain-pants on.

Little Izzy was tired of being cooped up - she has been getting to spend a lot of time outside with our days off... and she was not happy when I wouldn't take her out... in the rain.  I know what my Momma taught me about coming in out of the rain... I may have to talk to Izzy's Momma.  ;-)