Yep - it's karma

I mentioned the crabby people on the boat yesterday... we didn't see whales.

Two trips on the same boat today.  Cheery people; both trips.  Whale-palooza!  Both trips.

This morning (and early afternoon), we were with some of K and L Pod whales.  First view...

No other commercial boats yet, but we did have a couple "Cling-Ons" (nothing to do with StarTrek)...

LOTS of whales...

Not just lots of whales, but whales close by - so we got to spend most of our trip with them.  And, they were very active: lots of breaches and other fun surface behavior.  I found out I could actually do something to make a whale breach...

Set down my camera.  Really, I didn't know it was that easy: every time I put down the camera, there was a breach!  OK, not every time... but, it happened frequently enough that I picked up on the pattern.

This was one of the best whale viewings I've had in a while - more than made up for yesterday.

We rode north with the whales, enjoying plenty of time with the engine off... listening and watching.

It was an easy trip.  Back at the dock, we thanked our guests, helped them off the boat, then spruced it up for the next trip.

The reports for this trip didn't sound as promising: whales quite a ways to the north, moving away from us (same ones we saw on the first trip).  Or, whales to the south, not quite as far, but moving away from us.  We got our guests aboard, did the safety orientation, and headed out.  With perfect timing, I heard from Captain Gabe on one of our Friday Harbor boats: whales spotted from shore at the Lime Kiln Lighthouse, moving north - no boats with them.  If we can find them, it will be a much easier option.

Within 10 minutes of exiting Mosquito Pass... there they were!  No other boats around.  I called in the position; we IDed them as the J-16s.  All three pods today, not at the same time, though.  It was nicely uncrowded with boats - there had been quite a few private boats that came, went, got in the way, and ran up too close to the whales on the first trip - way fewer boats that came around to see what we were looking at this trip.

Not as many whales as our first trip (7 is still a great number to view!), but just as much surface activity... and a bunch of baby breaches!  No, I still didn't capture any of the beaches.  But...

A close encounter of the Orca kind.  We cruised with them into Open Bay (yes, that is close to Roche Harbor).

And, the opportunity to see Mike, J-26...

Mike is an impressive looking Orca: big, with about a 6 foot dorsal fin.

Again, we got to spend most of the trip with the whales (instead of a long run to get to and from them).  With the engine off, we watched as they moved south.  Waving good-bye to the J-16s, we went north to look for other fun stuff.  I captured this sparkly water image for my Honey (she was hard at work in the office in Friday Harbor)...

Good karma.  Great whale viewing.  Happy guests.  Beautiful weather.  Nice water.  Spectacular views.  A fine day on the water.

We are now down to single digits for work days.