And, it was an absolutely beautiful day today: clear blue sky, temps in the upper 60s, light wind, and calm seas. I drove the smaller of the two boats, expecting to follow the bigger boat. As things turned out, we left the dock first, so I pointed the boat in the direction that the network said we'd find whales, and we were off. It took about an hour and 15 minutes to cover the miles to where the whales were, and I set the boat up to stay within the proper distance. It was fun to hear the gasps from the folks on the boat, when the whales showed themselves... about a half dozen adults Orcas!
I did my best to position the boat so our guests would not only have a good view, but the light would be good for photos. The helm position on the boat I'm driving is on a flybridge, so I am considerably higher than the passengers. While I enjoy the interaction with the guests (and you don't get that on this boat), the view from the flybridge is pretty impressive.
Being a holiday weekend, both boats were full for a sunset whale watch, too. We had a report that there were whales coming in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, but nothing definitive... so back north we went. And the whales had gone further northwest. Again, we were able to get our guests great views of the Orcas.
A full driving day for me. And happy guests. The silhouettes of the islands as the sun dropped in the west were beautiful...
Sorry no whale photos. Driving the boat when close to the whales is pretty intense - rules to follow, distances that have to be kept, other boats to work around. I completely understand. One of these days, I'll go on the boat as a guest and hopefully get some photos to show you. In the meantime, what a way to spend the summer! :-)
4 comments:
Great trip Jim! Why not hand a guest your camera when you start out?
Well, that's a thought, Charlie... I can think of SO many things that could go bad with that scenerio ("Jim, what are these pictures on your camera?? ;-)). Not to mention the guests are busy clicking away with their own cameras. I'll have plenty of time to shoot when we're out on our own.
Jim,
The rules changed to what 200 yards from the whales last year? How do you judge the distance?
Chris
Hi Verboten. The 200 yard rule is from the side of their travel path; there are other distances/speeds depending on your location and theirs. We have rangefinders on the boats - measures distance. The rules are different in the US than they are in Canadian waters (yes, we are often in Canadian water "in the hunt").
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