Some days it all falls into place...

This was one of those days.  When I went into work, we didn't have a whale report.  I did some maintenance on the boat, then prepped her for our trip.  A half hour before we were to board our guests... a report!  Good position for us to get to; 8 or 9 transient Orcas; and the conditions were reported: "If it was any nicer, you'd think you were at home in your easy chair!"

Yeah, that was from another captain, not from the National Weather Service.  Nice to get the word from someone who is there.

We boarded our guests, then the young man who was working the counter brought down two more guests... except they had boarding passes for the other boat.  I said, "You can ride with us or you can go on that boat," pointing to the next boat over.

He asked, "What's the difference?"

"That one is our family boat.  They have the screaming children.  This one is our grown-ups boat.  They have a walk-around deck, we have a great viewing platform right at the water level."

He said, "I want to go with you!"

"Welcome aboard."

The water was as calm as could be.  We stopped to see some seals and a bunch of Stellar Sea Lions.  On the way to the Orcas, a Minke whale put himself nearly in our path - he wanted some attention, too, apparently... so, we stopped for a few minutes to view Mr. Minke.

I could see the other boats who were already with the Orcas, so I knew I didn't have far to go.  I pulled ahead of the group, positioned our boat, and the whales started moving to give us a great front row seat.  Nice timing...

Transient Orcas, but they weren't moving too fast.  It was a relaxing, almost leisurely viewing.  After one deep dive, they decided to come up to wave at the folks on our boat... well, that's how it felt.  I could hear the gasps from our guests.

I moved a bit further out after they passed, they slowed... more nice viewing.  I could hear our naturalist explaining what Sound Watch does.  I called them (Sound Watch) on the radio and asked if they could come by our boat... the naturalist was wide-eyed as Sound Watch approached.  I said, "We were just explaining to the nice folks on our boat what you folks do - could you come up and hand us one of your educational pieces?"

"Sure!  Never had that request before."  We have a good relationship with them, and they know we play by the rules.  The guests got to see Sound Watch "in action," a bit later when a huge private boat started moving between the commercial boats on either side, heading right for the whales.

After more than an hour of some great viewing, I let the guests know that this would be our last looks.  We rotated away from the group and started back towards Friday Harbor.  When I mentioned that conditions were nearly calm... this was the view from the helm in the Strait of Juan de Fuca...

Happy guests back at our dock.  The first mate and I cleaned up things on the boat, then I headed back to our boat... I have a date tonight.

MY first mate and I had reservations for a "grown-up supper."  We had a table by the window, with a beautiful view of the water...

It opened up even more when the ferry left...

Maybe I am partial to the view, because it looks out at our boats on the Spring Street Landing docks.

After supper and dessert, we walked back to our boat.  A beautiful day... maybe the second time all season that I didn't need a jacket while I was out on the boat.  Blue sky, nice temps, winds about 3 mph... cooperative whales (Minke and Orcas)... and a date with my Honey.  We have a couple more days of work, but this is a very nice way to wrap up the season.