Batting 1000%

Of course, it is my first day with guests.  But, there were whales!

I went in an hour earlier that usual to start crew training.  My first mate is a returnee, but this is her first time this season on this boat; and a new naturalists, who hasn't had any safety training, yet.  We took the boat out and had a "bad day"... man overboard, injured passengers, a couple fires, and an incapacitated captain.  Of course, we hope none of this happens, but we train for it so the crew can deal with it.  They did an admirable job.

It was a chilly day...

That's 4 layers of clothes for this island boy.

We left Roche Harbor, heading south out Mosquito Pass.  I had an early report that the whales were on the southwest side of the island, but couldn't get radio reception right in the harbor.  As we came out of the pass, into Haro Strait, I got the good news: the whales were slowly moving north!

Haro is on the border, between the US and Canada; it is also a shipping lane for the big stuff...

You can see the clouds moving down on the islands (in Canada) behind that ship.  Heading south, we were going into the wind.  On the bright side, the current was with us.  Yes, that does put wind against current, but it wasn't bad.

It took almost an hour to get to the whales.  Our first view...

Turned out to be most of J-Pod.  Unfortunately, they were close to shore... in an area were there are distance regulations for how close we are allowed to be to shore (besides the regulations for the distance we have to maintain from the whales).

And the reason people by property on the west coast of San Juan Island...

Of course, with it being the holiday weekend, we weren't the only boat out there.  The whales were pretty spread out, so it didn't seem particularly crowded with boats.  This boat from Vancouver (BC) had a bit of a heel to it when everyone was on the same side...

I wasn't able to shoot a lot of photos - with the whales as spread out as they were, I had to keep my head on a swivel.  We saw a lot of great behavior: a couple breaches, a spy hop or two, tail lobs, a headstand, and a real treat: Granny (J-2) with one of the new babies.

The big males (Onyx and Blackberry) are the impressive views, though, with those big dorsal fins...

Moving north, we eventually had to say goodbye to J-Pod.  We passed Lime Kiln Lighthouse along the way...

First mate/naturalist Rachel visiting with guests on the bow...

The trip home was a bit slower, but felt warmer with the wind behind us.  Happy guests;  happy crew.  Roche Harbor didn't look like the same place compared to that photo I posted on Thursday - lots of boats anchored out; I didn't see any empty guests slips.  One of the guests gave our crew some home-baked cookies... yep, everyone was happy.

We put the boat to bed, ready to do it all again tomorrow.  It was a chilly ride back to our RV site, but there was an occasional "sun break" ... that's a PNW term when the sun briefly peeks through the clouds.  Most places, it wouldn't be noticed.

Just a couple days ago, the forecast was for 40 to 50% chance of rain today, so we lucked out (Friday Harbor did get some rain).  But the best part of the day: seeing those spectacular whales again!