Go North...

The fog burned off by 10:00, and the sun made it warm and humid.  Washington warm and humid, not Texas warm and humid.  ;-)  I went into work this morning to do some maintenance on the boat, then came back to the boat to get ready for my trip.

The report I had on the whales put them quite a ways north, and moving further away.  When my first mate asked, "Do we have a report?" and I told her, her shoulders slumped.  "I had a bad experience on our other boat (the slower one) last year when we went way north and the whales kept moving away from us - we never got to them."

"Oh, ye of little faith.  You were not on this boat - it is faster and we will get to them!"  Her face brightened.  I think sometimes our guests are not aware of how important it is to the crew to get them to the whales.

When the first mate brought our guests to the boat, I welcomed them aboard, did a quick safety briefing and then explained my plan: "The whales are a ways north.  Anyone here on a schedule?  I plan to run north to somewhere around the Arctic Circle..." I paused to see if anyone was listening.  They were.  Fortunately, they also had a good sense of humor.

We were ten minutes later than the other boat in getting out, but we caught them just before we got to the whales.  Some of you folks who know the San Juan Islands may recognize this place...

That's the Patos Lighthouse.  The whales were right in front of it.  It turned out to be a VERY good show, with some breaches, spy hops, tail-lobs, and lots of animals from J and L Pods.  Not a lot of boats when we first arrived, so it was easy to put our guests in a good position.  No, I didn't get a chance to take any other photos... but, really, it was an outstanding viewing.  One of our guests got a shot of an Orca breaching, with the lighthouse in the near background, and Mt. Baker in the far background!  Nice!

We spent over an hour watching and enjoying.  When we left, I took another scenic route back - it was another absolutely beautiful day, and we showed off more of the wildlife and islands in the San Juans.  My view from the helm...

And the silhouettes of the islands off to the west are something I always enjoy...

Back at the dock, happy guests.  Our other boats had two trips today, I only had one... but, a fine one it was.