A nice birthday, even while working...

I went in a little early today, had a couple maintenance things to do on the boat.  I got a call from the office, "Can you come inside?"  When I got there, I saw Joan in the office... "Um, I thought you weren't working today?"

"I just stopped to say hi; I'm running errands."

One of the naturalists said, "Come into the staff room."

They had a gourmet cake, decorated with boat flags and a Happy Birthday banner, and a nice card... these really are great people.

We had the cake about half eaten before Joan got a photo of it...

Amy was my first mate/naturalist today; she said something about my birthday, because all the guests wished me a "Happy Birthday" as they boarded the boat.

As usual, the weather weasels were way off - the 'mostly sunny' forecast looked like this...

The report I received that said the whales were just outside of Roche Harbor got updated as I left the dock... almost to Pender Island in Canada, and moving 5 to 6 knots.  I put the coals to it and headed north.  I passed several sailboats along the way, not a one of them sailing...

I ran north beyond Spieden, Johns, and Stuart Islands, heading across Boundary Pass...

The view from the helm above.  Even when it's cloudy, the scenery is still great...

When we caught up to the whales, this was one of our first views...

We saw a good size group of Orcas moving north.  One nice breach, a couple spy hops, and a lot of porpoising.  Not a bad work day.  ;-)

When it was time to head back, Amy asked if we could look for some seals and eagles... "Sure, we'll take the scenic route home and see what we can find."  In the Cactus Islands, we saw a Momma seal with two pups.  No photo, the current was running pretty fast.  The guests were delighted.  Then an eagle fly over, and when I turned east, I saw two eagles sitting on a tree branch by the water... "Amy, two love birds at 11:00 o'clock."  More awwwwws from the guests.

I was running a bit behind, but the current was with me on the run back to Friday Harbor.  We passed a familiar boat: that's another whale watch boat that uses the same model as Wild Blue (we are equipped a bit different, though)...

I didn't have an evening trip, so after getting the boat put away, it was home to my Honey.  We picked up a pizza and she made salads - a relaxing supper back on Wild Blue out on the lanai.  Then, more cards and presents...

Little Izzy hopped out of the cockpit, staking out her territory...

It took until just before sunset before we saw the sun today...

The little furry girl looks pretty with some back-lighting.  My day started with a call from our daughter, with a promise for another call this evening to see how the day went.  Yeah, it was a very nice day.