Another warm day, even with an early start... a 9:00 private charter with a family wanting to scatter ashes. I found out it was for the Father, ex-husband, and grandfather of those on board - he was an avid sailor and loved being around the whales. This is a fitting way to "send him off."
They planned for their own ceremony, with music (guitar and vocals), reading, and rememberances. I suggested that we finish it off with an 8-bells (end of watch) and a figure-8 (an infinity symbol) after they lowered the ashes and tossed flower petals. It truly was a very nice, intimate ceremony. I picked a spot where we would have quiet water and nice scenery.
They were hoping to be able to scatter the ashes "by the whales," but understood that IF there were whales to view there would be plenty of other boats around. With an early morning departure, there were no whale reports, and I was aware that the whales we saw yesterday had gone way north and way west. Our best hope was for finding transient Orcas.
As I was motoring slowly away from the water where we did the ceremony, I got a report - another whale watch boat had just found transients, and they were just around the corner of the island from us! As I turned the boat, the whales came into view...
You could not have scripted this any better! The deceased name was Chuck... "Well, it looks like Chuck has called in the whales for us!"
With only two boats, it was easy to position for good viewing...
Yes, there were some tears. And dramatic views of the transient Orcas with the steam from their blows back-lit...
We were on the north side of Spieden Island, or what some consider "the back side" of the island. I picked this spot because of the dramatic cliffs and thick forest. We ran the length of the island with the whales, then they moved around the east point of the island, and began to go west on the other side of Spieden...
You can really see the difference in the lighting and the background. By this point, there were at least a dozen boats now viewing. The whales moved across the channel, along the northern shoreline of San Juan Island...
Their movements were irratic (hunting), and they turned east again. By the time they got to San Juan Channel, there were about 25 boats on the scene... we were treated to some great views before all the other boats made it hard to move around - time for us to move on.
We showed our guests more beautiful scenery, harbor porpoise, harbor seals, and eagles.
Truly, I don't know how this trip could have gone any better. The daughter who arranged all this gave me a hug as she got off the boat - "That was amazing! It was better than what I hoped for."
That trip will stay in my memory.
The second trip was a smaller group, excited to see "whales and all the other things you can show us!" I like that: because there is so much more to this area and our trips than just the whales.
We had to go further this trip - these same transients were the only whales in the area, and they had moved quite a ways away from us. It took a while to get there, but the guests were excited to see the whales... late in the afternoon, there were fewer boats to contend with.
A gorgeous day, with nearly calm water...
I texted Joan as we cruised by outside of Friday Harbor: "Can you see me waving?" Joking, because we were quite a ways out...
First Mate Alex visiting with some of the guests on the bow...
As we made our way back towards Roche Harbor, the sun was getting low - Battleship Island really looks like a battleship when silhouetted...
It was a long, but very good day on the water.
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