Put a fork in me...

OK, don't really stick me with a fork.  But, we are done!  Last day for both of us.  Well, September 1st is our "official" end date, but we have Monday and Tuesday off... so, we are done.

I did my usual morning trip out of Roche routine: get there early and have a nice hardy breakfast; leisurely, then go prep the boat.  Breakfast was great, and fast.  I checked in early; good thing - the storm yesterday left the boat littered with pine needles.  Every horizontal surface was covered with 'em.

I hosed the boat, starting at the bow and working my way back.  I had to get all that mess out of the way before starting the engine and systems prep.

We had a fairly light passenger load today (mid-teens), and the only whale report I had put them way south.  Doable, but not in a three hour trip.  At the last minute, the boss booked a party of 4 and told me, "They have to be back by 3:00 - they have a wedding to attend."

That would make it a 4 hour trip... and that isn't going to be quite enough.

I visited with the guests while we waited for the last 4 people; when they arrived I did the safety orientation, then asked about time constraints.  When I told them where the whales are and what I estimated for timing, the 4 people decided they could do "3:30... OK, maybe 3:40, but absolutely no later than that."

"I'll do my best to make that work."  Of course, everyone wants to see Orcas.  As I chugged out of Mosquito Pass and into Haro Strait, I got a latitude and longitude of the whales' location... it is going to be close.  I put the coals to it.

Haro Strait was lumpy (as in 3 to 4 foot waves) for about 10 minutes, then began to lay down.  The view from the bow...

Calculating the boat speed, lat/long, and estimated current, it was going to take us an hour and 50 minutes to get to the whales... unless they started to move towards us... and that is a possibility.  Not today, though - they turned and were moving away from us.  Not fast, but not making this trip any shorter.

We were well into the Strait of Juan de Fuca when I got a visual on a couple other boats who were with the whales... yeah, that is still a long ways away.

This is my last day - I am going to get these people to the whales!

Before we got to the other boats, I saw a couple Orcas further north than the others - that will work!  I made a 30º turn and set us up for viewing...

Look towards the top of that image, and you can see the other boats.  We determined that we were viewing J-Pod, and had Granny (J-2), Onyx, and others to ourselves.  I am pleased that I will get to say good-bye to my J-Pod friends on my last trip.  Some of them decided to come up close and personal for a good-bye...

When they were further away, I started up again, and set up for more viewing.  The guests were so happy to get to see Orcas...

It wasn't going to be the longest viewing ever, but we all enjoyed it...

Calculating again, I knew we had to be heading back no later than 1:30.  At 1:25, I told our guests that "these will be our last looks."  As I rotated us to head north, two more whales came by our stern... nice way to end this viewing.

The tide was coming in, so I was anticipating a bit of a "push" heading back.  The water was nearly flat, the wind and current at our back... nice ride.

Nice cloud pattern...

Looking back towards the Olympic Mountains...

Looks like the weather might be moving back in.  Won't be an issue for us; we are ahead of it.  One more double check of the timing... we should be pulling up to the dock around 3:20.

Happy guests getting off the boat.  The crew was feeling good about the trip, too... especially the Captain.  We definitely went "the extra mile," today.  Nice way to end the season.

Joan got off work early today - a first.  When I got home, she suggested we go out for supper to celebrate a good conclusion to our work time here.  There is a Mexican restaurant in the Best Western... our first time there.  The food was good.  Not fast, but we weren't on a schedule.  No need to hurry home to get to bed early, so we can get up early.  This feels good.

We will probably be around here for another week or so... looks like rainy weather for the next 4 or 5 days (glad to not be working in that)... then, we'll start getting our rig ready for the road again.

We are both ready for some traveling.