The fear of 13. As in: buildings that don't have a 13th floor. Or airlines that don't have a row 13. The weather forecast for today was moderately lousy: heading south, I was expecting winds of 14+ knots on the nose, with 3 foot waves, and rain.
The reality: by the time I got to Roche Harbor, there was a nice blue "hole" over the harbor. The wind was light and variable. I was there a little early to prep the boat and do some training with a new 1st mate. Like yesterday, I didn't get a whale report until shortly before our scheduled departure... but this one was solid and about an hour away.
I was expecting a boat full of crazies (after all, it is Friday the 13th), but the guests were normal... no, make that: delightful. I think they were happy it wasn't raining, AND we had a good report for whales. Yeah, I was happy, too.
We shoved off and headed south through Mosquito Pass. The current was building. Where the pass opens to Haro Strait, the wind was up to about 10, the waves were 1 to 1.5 feet. The sky was partly sunny. More reports, with even better news: the whales were south of us, heading north. We wouldn't have to go as far as I first thought.
When we arrived on scene, there weren't as many whale watch boats as I expected. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't like yesterday where there were only two of us watching the transients. J-Pod is back and people get that word pretty fast. From a distance, I could see the tall dorsal fins of Blackberry and Mike - yep, J-Pod! With them coming at us, I was able to set us up in a nice forward position, parallel to their direction of movement. The guests were getting nice views. The sea conditions had built to 2 to 3 feet, but then began laying down. More sunshine. The wind lessened. This Friday the 13th was turning into a real delight!
I didn't have the opportunity to get photos of the whales, but they were being active: spy hops, tail slaps, belly rolls, and a couple nice breaches. And we had a ringside seat! No boats in front of us, this view behind us...
Boats from Victoria, Vancouver, Friday Harbor, Anacortes, and Orcas Island. The whales were spread out such that everyone was getting good views without much crowding.
I did manage to get a shot of one of our new naturalists on the bow, visiting with some of the guests...
After an hour or so of some fine viewing, we turned off-shore and started our trek back to Roche Harbor. Well ahead of the pack of boats, I saw another couple of whales: Granny, the matriarch of J-Pod. At an estimate age of 103, she is definitely "the leader of the pack." We were the only boat there, watching as Granny and two other females moved north. A nice way to finish off our viewing.
Loads of sunshine on our way north. The wind and waves were behind us... I was able to get out of two of the four layers I was wearing!
Back to our dock, thanking happy guests, then showing the 1st mate how we put away the boat for the day. No crazies on the road on the drive back to Friday Harbor. The wind is building as I am writing this... glad to be back on our boat and settled in. I think we'll cook in this evening, and avoid the crowds - no sense tempting fate. ;-)
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