I wanted to go out with a bang...

Turns out, it was more like a sonic boom!!

The day started out with no whale reports when I was prepping the boat.  A few minutes later, a call on the radio that a boat in our network was with a humpback whale - I am liking that!  The whale was in Rosario Strait, moving south.  If the timing would work, it would be an easy run... and seeing a humpback on my last day would be a treat.

Our guests were all checked in early, so we got off the dock before the other boats with a 1:30 departure.  One of our guests had flown in and said the pilot pointed out 3 whales swimming together when they were about 10 minutes out of Friday Harbor.  I calibrated where that might be, and called it in as an unconfirmed "rumor"; not seen by one of the captains, and estimated the position between Deception Pass and Lopez Island.  Several callbacks on the radio, but I stressed this was unconfirmed... there were no other Orca reports anywhere in the area.

The humpback had moved as expected, and was in a great spot for us.  I called the boat that was with it and asked how long they would be there... "Until another boat shows up."

"I am on my way, but it will be 40 minutes before I can get there."

Another call on the radio: "I'll be there in 25 to 30 minutes."

The first boat, "We will wait for whoever gets here first."

The boats in our network do that for each other - it can be hard to find a whale with just an approximate location; having another boat stay on the scene is insurance that other boats for the rest of the day will be able to see this animal.

The second boat got there a few minutes before us, and for a while, we were the only two boats on the scene.  The humpback was very regular, 4 surface dives, a fluke dive, then down for 4 to 5 minutes.  Our timing was great, since we caught the whale at the beginning of that sequence.  The guests were loving it, especially when the flukes would come up before a deep dive...

We stayed with the whale for about 40 minutes; I told the guests that we would be getting our last look here when the whale came up for one more sequence.  Good thing we stayed... it surfaced right next to our boat!  The guests shrieked (one guest caught it on video), I cut the engine and swung the prop away... seriously, right next to us.  I felt whale spit on the fly bridge.  It went down and surfaced again about 30 feet away from us - this animal was much larger than our boat!  Several guests got photos of the second surfacing.  More shrieking and happy laughter; I said, "Well, that is a pretty nice way to get our last looks!  Understand that is not our intent to ever be that close.  We're going to go east a bit and see if we can find another kind of whale."

We ran less than a mile, and a Minke popped up on our port side, in front of us.  "Two different whales for the price of one!"  Our naturalist explained that Minke whales can be very elusive... this guy surfaced fairly close 6 times in the next 2 minutes!

An extroverted Minke - we'll take it!  I saw another smaller Minke behind us, rotated the boat and started heading that direction.  By this point, there were at least 20 boats on the humpback a mile or so east of us.  A call came on the radio: "I have black and whites!"

"Who and where?" I asked.

The response: "(boat name), and I have black and whites!

"Where?"

The position was less than a mile from us, straight ahead with the direction we were going to look at the other Minke, and I could see the boat... I pushed the throttle forward and in a short time, I could see the Orcas' dorsal fins!!

We are going to have another TRIFECTA!!  Humpback, Minkes, and Orcas... oh, my!  Again, we were the second boat on the scene... looking over my shoulder, I could see about 20 boats who had abandoned the humpback, heading towards the Orcas!  I rotated our boat, the Orcas passed off our stern (best viewing angle for our guests).  Seriously, all three whale types within a couple miles of each other - what a way to finish my last day.

One of the other boats called us on the radio, "Jim, your guest was right on with these Orcas!"

"Sometimes you get lucky," I said.

I had my hands full as all the other boats arrived on the scene, but we were in good position for viewing.  I managed to get off a couple shots...

I didn't get a shot (in focus) of the big male with this group (always impressive, with the huge dorsal fin).

I let the guests know that we would be "a bit late getting back to the dock, because I assume everyone wants to stay for a while and enjoy the Orcas?!"  Yeah, that didn't need to be asked.

THIS is the way to finish off the season!!

To cap that off, this is what the water looked like again...

This time, where Rosario Strait and the Strait of Juan de Fuca come together.

Happy guests back at the dock; some good-bye hugs from first mates.  I filled out the log and put the boat away for my last time... and gave her a pat on the stern.  This boat is a champ.

I walked back to our boat with a big smile on my face.

Joan and I went out for supper to celebrate another "productive" season.  Now, it's time to kick back.