Skater dudes and whales...

There is a skate park opening on Lopez Island.  It is a BIG deal.  There are world famous skater athletes making an appearance for this.  Today, I drove a charter with 3 famous skater dudes and their families.  I'm going to confess that I have no idea who these people are... but, my first mate (24 years old) was just a little bit awe-struck... "These guys were famous when I was younger!"

Just for reference, to give you an idea of how big a deal this opening is: the Washington State Ferry is putting on an extra ferry run for Saturday night because of the anticipated crowds.  I just know I am driving charters and water taxis for this event, shuttling the athletes.  Unlike my first mates, I am not awe-struck.

I explained to one of the first mates today how we built our own skateboards from a 2x4 and metal wheeled skates that we bought at Goodwill for a dime when I was a kid... I think I may have cemented any thoughts that they think I am older than dirt!

Back to the charter.  We got off late because these skater dudes were being interviewed for a PR video piece for the company that makes the material that is used to build the skate parks.  Truly, it didn't matter to me - the clock starts running when I clock in. ;-)

We shoved off over a half hour late, and headed towards the whales... in the fog and rain.  We put the guests where they had a great view of the whales, and they were enjoying the show.  When it was time to head back to Friday Harbor, the fog had thickened... I let the guests know that we'd be going slower on the way back in, due to the diminished visibility.

We broke away from the other boats who were watching whales, and within a mile, whales came up close enough that I had to shut down the boat.  We had them all to ourselves.  The guests were oooohhing and aaaahhing up a storm.  When the whales passed, we started for Cattle Pass again... and, again, whales came up, and we shut down.  No other boats (but I could hear them on the radio, looking for the whales), our own private show.  They passed, we moved... I saw a target on radar (the visibility was down to a couple hundred yards) in our 12 o'clock position.  I pulled off the power, and a HUGE male came up in front of us.  Yes, he was big enough to show up on radar!  Then, followed by two females.  I let the fleet know, but most of them were in a group watching other whales; one boat was on the way out and asked if I'd stay with the whales long enough for them to find us... "Sure," I gave them a bearing and distance.  When they showed up in the thickening fog, we headed for home once again (the captains are very cooperative, staying on scene 'till the next boat arrives when the schedules allow).  A mile from Cattle Pass... yep, two more Orcas.

Seeing Orcas is a very special event.  Seeing Orcas appear in and out of the fog is almost surreal!  I was busy with navigating and watching radar - no chance to grab my camera... I hope this description is enough.  I get goose bumps just writing this!

Cattle Pass had traffic that we could see on radar.  A "securite'" call on the VHF let me pick out a sailboat without radar.  Another target was running at about 25 knots, closing on us... it turned out to be a metal boat with radar.  No way that speed was safe or prudent in the visibility, which was less than 100 feet.  We were down to 6 knots.  Another small fiberglass boat came in from the other side, and barely showed on radar.  Straight ahead: a BIG target.  With the timing, I knew it would be the Victoria Clipper III.  I called them, we negotiated who would go where in the pass.  Between the fog and the whales, we were nearly an hour late getting back... the guests were happy - they had an amazing whale viewing... repeatedly.

The PR guy who arranged this trip, met me when we came in, thanked us for taking good care of these folks, and booked more boat time.

Yep, a VERY busy week.  But, did I mention the whales in the fog??  Spectacular!!