Joan and I were half the crew on the bigger boat today. 26 smiling guests and 4 crew. The weather weasels didn't give us a very pleasant outlook, but they were pleasantly wrong. It was partly cloudy when we shoved off, but the rain didn't materialize... nor did the 10 - 15 mph sw wind. As we made our way south, past cattle pass, the water was nearly calm (4' waves yesterday in the same place, I was told), the sky became mostly sunny... and there were whales! Lots of whales. Whales to the right... whales to the left. (Jimmy Buffett song "Fins" reference) We were one of the first boats on the scene, and were soon joined by a dozen other commercial whale watch boats. And one private boat that violated about every distance rule there is.
J-Pod was very active today, with all the usual whale activity you'd expect, including several full breaches! It was a boat full of happy people. The past week has been kinda slim-pickin's for whale sightings, so this was a very welcome change of pace.
A fine day on the water... hoping for another 70 or 80 just like that! ;-)
Here's an archive photo...
And a quick reference distance guideline...
1 comment:
Thanks for putting those whale watch guidelines out there, Jim - I'm busy putting posters up on south Whidbey, both the Washington State ones and the transboundary ones. Sandra
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