Last evening cruise...

Last night was the last evening cruise of the season for the boat I drive in Friday Harbor.  The other boat will have evening cruises through this week, but Kittiwake is booked for other things the next few days.

It was a long day yesterday, not just the hours.  The resident Orcas left the area after their big gathering.  We had two reports of transient Orcas - one way west and moving west, the other way north and moving northwest.  This is a relatively fast boat, but ... heck, I "put the hammer down" and pointed her north.  As in: through the San Juan Islands, into and through the Gulf Islands.  What's that?  Lizard Island... haven't been here before... and it's beautiful.  Down a narrow passage and out into the Straits of Georgia.  The whales are moving away from us even faster.  By the time we caught up with them, we were an hour and 50 minutes into a "3 hour tour."

We spent 20 minutes with the whales, moving even further northwest.  I called the office and told them we'd be back just in time to load our evening guests, and asked them to have some food for the first mate (Joan was bringing me some supper - I called her to let her know I'd be on a tight turn around).

The guests were delighted that they got to see whales and all seemed to enjoy the pretty trip along the way.  I didn't have a chance to get any photos of the whales this trip.

We rolled back into Friday Harbor at 5:20, with a 5:30 departure for the next trip.  We put the food onboard, the first mate cleaned the boat while I went up to greet the next group and brought them to the boat.  The good news: it is probably the nicest evening of the season.  The bad news: no Orca reports.  Not north, not west... even the Ts are gone.

I let the guests know that status, and told them we would be looking and I would be working the radios for any reports.  One guest was obviously miffed at this news, but we go with truth and disclosure on our boats.  We pushed off... the water in San Juan Channel was perfectly flat.  I stopped to give the guests a look at some harbor seals and harbor porpoise.  Mr. Miffed sat with his arms folded and didn't even look, the rest of the guests were enjoying it.

Cattle Pass was like a pond.  We saw a Stellar Sea Lion in the water.  With no Orca reports, we ran out into Salmon Bank to see if we could find any Minke whales... with the flat water, it would be easy to see.  I found a couple likely looking bait balls and ... "Minke at 11 o'clock, 200 yards!"

If you've read here before, you've seen mention of Minke whales.  They are a true whale, generally about 30 feet long; shaped like a torpedo and just about that fast.  They don't spend much time at the surface, like the Orcas.  They aren't as impressive because they have short dorsal fins.  But, it is cool to see them lunge feed.  All but one of the guests seemed happy to see the Minke.  I called in the position, and within 15 minutes there was another boat on the scene.  I heard the Victoria boats talking about seeing a sea otter... and nothing from the Vancouver boats... it seems that we had the only "whale show" in the area.

It is hard to get a photo of a Minke, because they are so fast.  I realized I have never tried to get a photo of a Minke.  Well, check that off...

This Minke was being cooperative - he surfaced regularly (unlike most).  His movements were erratic (like most), but we were able to sit with the motor off and see and hear him.

We left the Minke to see if we could find any bald eagles for the guests to see... I took them by a nest and we found one posing on the point of that island.  The light was disappearing fast.  We swung by where we had seen the Stellar on the way out and found him on the rocks - the size is more impressive when you see them out of the water...

I turned on our running lights.  The sky was absolutely beautiful...

When we got back to the dock, Mr. Miffed was off the boat before I got down from the helm, muttering under his breath.  I later found out he said to the first mate, "You people ruined my whole f@#$%&! vacation!"  Had I known that, he and I would have had words before I had the boat back at the dock.  The rest of the guests (including his wife) thanked us and left a nice gratuity for the first mate - they knew we were working hard for them.  One man said to me, "That sky you pointed out was the most beautiful thing we've seen this trip."

It's that old "glass half full, half empty" thing... I am happy I have a glass.  It was a beautiful evening on the water.

I gave the first mate a little pep talk while we put the boat away.  It was after 9:00.  I had to use a flashlight to finish my log.  It had been a long day... a long, satisfying day.

I think I'll do it all again tomorrow.  From the other side of the island.  ;-)

A look at the half moon over Friday Harbor as we came in...