Surrounded...

An early charter today, followed by a scheduled trip.  Really nice folks on the charter.  We departed at 9:00 am, with no whale reports.  The "Super Moon" we are having this month and next (the moon is closer than normal to the Earth) makes for some higher high and lower low tides... which makes for more current.  Departing Roche Harbor this morning, I decided to go south on an ebbing tide - it added about 4 knots to our boat speed.  I have said before that whale watching is a bit like playing chess... well, it's even harder if you can't see the moves the other player is making.  I went with a gut feeling that the whales would be somewhere south of us; an hour into our trek south, still not reports.  I started a turn towards Discover Island (off of Vancouver Island, BC) and... a spray!  Whales about a mile and a half south of us!

There was another boat approaching from the west, and our boat from the north.  We were the only boats on the scene while the word got out.  J and K-Pods were moving east.  We had some good viewing, then started our trip back north.  That wonderful current that gave us a push going south didn't change as fast as the charts said it would... we had a slow slog back to Roche Harbor.

We did a quick clean up on the boat, and boarded guests for our afternoon trip.  Having accurate reports, we knew right where to find them (not far from where we left them)... and then they decided to move southwest (away from us).  The tide had changed by this point, so we had a slog going south.  "A slog" is just what it sounds like: current working against your forward motion.  We had half the guests on our boat who had flown in and needed to catch a seaplane out of Roche - we were up against a hard deadline.

It took a while, but we finally got to the whales.  Again, the viewing was good; more groups of Orcas than this morning.  The good news: we got to the whales; the bad news: we weren't going to spend a lot of time with them.

The whales had other ideas.

I positioned the boat for good viewing, after watching the whales move consistently southwest.  We were shut down, watching "the whale parade" go by.  Then, they changed directions, coming up on both sides of our boat and the other boats that were viewing near us.  I couldn't start up.  We needed to get back for the plane.  The whales kept coming.  I let the guests know that we would start north when we had a clear path to leave the area.  The half of the boat that weren't flying out, were delighted that we were staying longer.  The other half (and the captain, who was responsible for getting them back on time) were feeling a bit anxious.  I started up and shut down 4 or 5 times.  I was calculating the current in my head... the charts were off before, so I was really hoping they would be in our favor on the run back north.  Well, I knew they would be in our favor - it was just a matter of how much.

I achieved a new personal speed record on this boat, running at our normal high cruise speed.  Well, after we were able to work out way out away from the whales.  Happy guests.  I did more calculating.  The current was more than forecast... and that was a relief.  Half way back, I could see that we were going to be fine on time.  The desk called, concerned about our return time.  I let them know we "should" be good.  45 minutes out, we were on schedule.  A half hour out, the timing was working out just right.  We pulled up to the dock at the exact minute of our "must be back by" time.

I am getting too old for this kind of stress.  ;-)

On the bright side, I rode the scooter to work - a great stress reliever...

No, I am not parked in a fire lane - that sign is for the street just in front of that grassy area.

And, some whale photos (fins to the left, fins to the right!)...