The morning was gray. Not rainy gray, but a thin, low fog. The air felt chilly. But, the weather weasels said it would be sunny by noon. Only an hour late, but shortly after 1:00 pm, the gray sky turned to blue. There had been fog south of San Juan Island, but it was supposed to be clear, as well.
It wasn't. At Cattle Pass, we ran into a wall of fog. The visibility went from miles and miles to less than 1/4 mile. Another boat had reported a Minke sighting within a mile of the pass. I knew right where to head, 'cause there were a half dozen other blips on radar heading to the same spot. ;-)
We got to see the elusive Minke a couple times before the visibility in the fog dropped. When I couldn't see the boat 200 feet off our starboard side, I decided there was no point in sticking around this spot. We made our way north through Cattle Pass in thick fog. I could see the other boats on the radar doing the same.
A couple miles north, we drove out of the fog, still like a wall. I ran north to the Wasp Islands, then a trip to Oneil Island, where we saw a pair of bald eagles up close - they were posing for us!
By then, it was time to head back to Friday Harbor. Along the way, I listened to boats in southern Haro Strait and at Hein Bank - they were all in thick fog. Still.
We had a nice trip; the guests seemed to enjoy the fog... to a point. I heard one of them ask the naturalist, "How does he know where to go? You can't see a thing."
"He has radar and all kinds of other stuff up there."
;-)
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