Visitors from a far away land...

Joan's brother and sister-in-law are RVing their way around the country since they retired.  They are now in Washington State.  We tried to work things out with a whale watch cruise, but circumstances didn't work out.  This morning, they were in Friday Harbor.  I met them at the ferry landing and walked with them up to Susie's Mopeds... they saw the fun we had with a Scoot Coupe and wanted to try one.

Greg...

Val...

Pretty apparent that the Wittche's have good taste in spouse selection, huh?

Getting their instructions...

I added one more: don't rev it like you would a motorcycle - no clutch... that continuously variable transmission will catch at some point when you rev it, and you will be moving... whether you mean to or not.

And, they're off...

Val had studied up on the island, so when the guy have them tips on where to stop and what to see, she was up to speed.  When I talked to Greg later, they had a lot of fun with the Scoot Coupe.

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Joan went to work at the "inland office," located at the boss's place.  She lamented that she has a view of grass, not the waterfront that she is used to.  I lamented that I can't just walk in anytime and see my Honey.  Two weeks to go - we will deal with it.

I gave my guests "Good news and bad news... which do you want first?"

"Give us the bad news."

"The bad news is our resident Orcas are hiding out.  No reports.  The good news is: there is a solid report of transient Orcas.  The bad news is: they are a long ways away.  The good news is: we have a fast boat.  The bad news is: we'll be crossing Haro Strait and into the Strait of Juan de Fuca.  The good news is: the water is supposed to be pretty comfortable today - a very happy bit of good news.  The bad news is: we can't get there in back in 3 hours.  The good news is: unless anyone has a tight time constriction, we WILL get you to the Orcas."

One couple had to catch a seaplane by 5:45.  "Yeah, we can do that."

We caught up with the Ts (transients) south of Discovery Island (just off Vancouver Island).  On the way there, we saw a Minke whale, some Stellar Sea Lions, and harbor porpoise... just for a warm-up.  The transients were moving further southwest - I set us up to match their pace (they were doing about 4 knots)... no sitting and watching today... move with 'em or you won't get much of a viewing.

The full moon is tomorrow - the flood tide coming in Juan de Fuca knocked about 4 knots off our speed on the way there, especially around the junction with Haro.  I burned plenty of the boss's fuel today... but, we got the guests to the Orcas.

A fine day for whale watching.