Yeah, I don't think that will work...

A few last looks around Friday Harbor:

Inside Wild Blue while we were getting ready to head out...

 The VuQube platform needs to be disassembled...

Inside Vic's (the burger place)...

And the view from the marina office on our way back to Wild Blue...

One last Interesting Boat Of The Day in Friday Harbor...

A Nordic Tug 54 - pretty fabulous looking.  I don't think we'd be able to tow that behind Big Red.  ;-)

We untied the dock lines and motored out of our dock one last time.

About a half hour after we shoved off from Friday Harbor, we got a call from our friends, Captain Ron and Gayle - we all worked together in the Tetons, and they just pulled into... Friday Harbor.  We have to go back there to get our truck, so we will get to see them.  We are both excited to see our friends.

It was an easy cruise to Cap Sante Marina in Anacortes; we'll be here for a few nights.  I am doing the music on Friday evening for the Ranger Tug Rendezvous - they are expecting somewhere around 100 boats!

We had made the arrangements for a slip in Anacortes last month.  I called the marina on the VHF on the way in and confirmed our slip assignment... yep, they told us to head on in.  There was a boat in that slip... we swapped fenders, pulled in on the other side of the finger dock from that boat, and called the marina again.  They gave us another slip assignment... we left our boat where it was and walked to that slip to make sure it was empty.

We put Wild Blue in, tied her off, and started getting her ready to be down for a few days.  Joan asked where to put the VuQube... the end of the slip didn't work; couldn't get a signal at the front of the slip, either.  She said, "I'll work on it while you go take care of our slip with the marina."

At the marina office, I offered to cut the lines on the boat that was in the slip we were supposed to be in and tow it out to Rosario Strait... "Oh, no, you can't do that," the lady at the desk said.

"Umm, that was a joke."  She wasn't sure.  She told me they have had a rash of people in wrong slips lately.  I decided to not say, "I can scuttle them for you," but I thought she might not think I was joking again.

Long walk back to our slip.  When I got there, I saw where Joan had put the VuQube...

Yeah, that's it sitting on top of the boat...

I looked at the forest of masts between the dish and the satellite...

and said to Joan, "I don't think that will work up there, especially when we move around the boat..."

Of course, I didn't get the whole sentence out when the TV came on.  I stepped on the coaming of the boat going into the cockpit... never lost the signal.  We both went to one side of the boat - yeah, the signal held just fine.  "OK, I was wrong, but we better put a bungee or line on there to keep it from blowing off the boat if the wind comes up."  I am amazed at the job that VuQube does... considering all the time it has spent by salt water, I am amazed it works at all!  But, it does.

A short time later, our friends Herb and Wilma pulled into their nearby slip.  I stepped out to grab a line, but they had it under control.  Jake (their golden retriever) came by Wild Blue to visit Izzy... Iz hissed at poor Jake... not very friendly.  Then, she went back inside and glared at him through the window...

Nice to be "back in America".  Once we get our truck, we can run to the store any ol' time we want.  Of course, you can walk to the grocery stores here in Anacortes, and the prices seem inexpensive by "island" standards.

Joan reminded me of the fortune I got yesterday from lunch at the Chinese restaurant...

We'll see what the crowd is like Friday evening.  ;-)

Time to untie the dock lines...

We're waiting for the rain to let up, but will head out today.  Time to take down our VuQube platform, turn in our electric meter reading to the Port, have some lunch at our favorite little burger place here, and shove off.

We said our good-byes to our work mates yesterday.  It's been another interesting season.  Time to move on.

The pitter-patter...

No, not little feet.  Even little Izzy has big feet for her size.

This pitter-patter is the rain on the cabin top.  There isn't a lot we have to do to prep the boat for heading out (Wild Blue is kept reasonably ready to cruise, even when we are just living aboard), but this is what the radar currently looks like...

And, it's moving from the east.  Not a typical weather pattern.

Oh well; we plan to head out of here tomorrow.  We need to make a trip to the boss's shop to say good-bye.  Pretty sure we'll get wet on that walk from the boat to the truck.

And, (metaphor alert) we'll see what tomorrow brings.

:-)

Izzy's time out...

No, she didn't have to sit in the corner.  This evening, it is much quieter here in Friday Harbor.  The holiday weekend is coming to a close.

Little Izzy was feeling braver, especially with Mom and Dad right there with her.

Watching a dog on the dinghy watching her...

And, out on the bow of Wild Blue...

No story, just a cute cat.  :-)

Epilogue: the fire; and down-time...

We walk by the burned out building every day.  Plenty of people have asked, and the investigators have given their findings: the fire was caused by an electrical short, likely caused by rodents.  Not an  appetizing thought, considering it was in a restaurant.  Last I heard, there were 4 insurance companies involved.

Time estimates to rebuild run from 6 months to 2 years.  I don't think anyone is absolutely certain about what the permitting process will take, with the building on the waterfront.

--------------------

I was determined to do nothing today... proud to say I achieved my goal.  Other than a leisurely walk to breakfast and the grocery store, some guitar playing, and a walk for ice cream, I spent a good amount of time in Wild Blue's cockpit.  Joan was ready for some down-time, too... well, if you don't count her desire to do laundry after sitting in the cockpit for about 10 minutes.  We obviously approach relaxation differently.  ;-)

I wanted to go out with a bang...

Turns out, it was more like a sonic boom!!

The day started out with no whale reports when I was prepping the boat.  A few minutes later, a call on the radio that a boat in our network was with a humpback whale - I am liking that!  The whale was in Rosario Strait, moving south.  If the timing would work, it would be an easy run... and seeing a humpback on my last day would be a treat.

Our guests were all checked in early, so we got off the dock before the other boats with a 1:30 departure.  One of our guests had flown in and said the pilot pointed out 3 whales swimming together when they were about 10 minutes out of Friday Harbor.  I calibrated where that might be, and called it in as an unconfirmed "rumor"; not seen by one of the captains, and estimated the position between Deception Pass and Lopez Island.  Several callbacks on the radio, but I stressed this was unconfirmed... there were no other Orca reports anywhere in the area.

The humpback had moved as expected, and was in a great spot for us.  I called the boat that was with it and asked how long they would be there... "Until another boat shows up."

"I am on my way, but it will be 40 minutes before I can get there."

Another call on the radio: "I'll be there in 25 to 30 minutes."

The first boat, "We will wait for whoever gets here first."

The boats in our network do that for each other - it can be hard to find a whale with just an approximate location; having another boat stay on the scene is insurance that other boats for the rest of the day will be able to see this animal.

The second boat got there a few minutes before us, and for a while, we were the only two boats on the scene.  The humpback was very regular, 4 surface dives, a fluke dive, then down for 4 to 5 minutes.  Our timing was great, since we caught the whale at the beginning of that sequence.  The guests were loving it, especially when the flukes would come up before a deep dive...

We stayed with the whale for about 40 minutes; I told the guests that we would be getting our last look here when the whale came up for one more sequence.  Good thing we stayed... it surfaced right next to our boat!  The guests shrieked (one guest caught it on video), I cut the engine and swung the prop away... seriously, right next to us.  I felt whale spit on the fly bridge.  It went down and surfaced again about 30 feet away from us - this animal was much larger than our boat!  Several guests got photos of the second surfacing.  More shrieking and happy laughter; I said, "Well, that is a pretty nice way to get our last looks!  Understand that is not our intent to ever be that close.  We're going to go east a bit and see if we can find another kind of whale."

We ran less than a mile, and a Minke popped up on our port side, in front of us.  "Two different whales for the price of one!"  Our naturalist explained that Minke whales can be very elusive... this guy surfaced fairly close 6 times in the next 2 minutes!

An extroverted Minke - we'll take it!  I saw another smaller Minke behind us, rotated the boat and started heading that direction.  By this point, there were at least 20 boats on the humpback a mile or so east of us.  A call came on the radio: "I have black and whites!"

"Who and where?" I asked.

The response: "(boat name), and I have black and whites!

"Where?"

The position was less than a mile from us, straight ahead with the direction we were going to look at the other Minke, and I could see the boat... I pushed the throttle forward and in a short time, I could see the Orcas' dorsal fins!!

We are going to have another TRIFECTA!!  Humpback, Minkes, and Orcas... oh, my!  Again, we were the second boat on the scene... looking over my shoulder, I could see about 20 boats who had abandoned the humpback, heading towards the Orcas!  I rotated our boat, the Orcas passed off our stern (best viewing angle for our guests).  Seriously, all three whale types within a couple miles of each other - what a way to finish my last day.

One of the other boats called us on the radio, "Jim, your guest was right on with these Orcas!"

"Sometimes you get lucky," I said.

I had my hands full as all the other boats arrived on the scene, but we were in good position for viewing.  I managed to get off a couple shots...

I didn't get a shot (in focus) of the big male with this group (always impressive, with the huge dorsal fin).

I let the guests know that we would be "a bit late getting back to the dock, because I assume everyone wants to stay for a while and enjoy the Orcas?!"  Yeah, that didn't need to be asked.

THIS is the way to finish off the season!!

To cap that off, this is what the water looked like again...

This time, where Rosario Strait and the Strait of Juan de Fuca come together.

Happy guests back at the dock; some good-bye hugs from first mates.  I filled out the log and put the boat away for my last time... and gave her a pat on the stern.  This boat is a champ.

I walked back to our boat with a big smile on my face.

Joan and I went out for supper to celebrate another "productive" season.  Now, it's time to kick back.

Last day musings...

We were up bright and early this morning.  5:30.  Joan said, "Well, this will be the last day of this early stuff."

We'll see; it takes my inner clock a while to adapt... even if I can sleep in, I generally don't.

I caught a ride up the hill with the Blonde on her way to work.  It's her last day of being a "commuter," made necessary since the fire.  She misses being able to walk to work... and the waterfront view from the office... but especially having some "face time" with the guests.

One of the guests on the boat yesterday said, "Joan said we'd like being on this boat - she said it has the best looking captain."

"She may be a bit biased," I said, "but, she does have good taste."

"She was SO nice on the phone.  Is that your wife?"

"Yes, ma'am.  We've been together since high school."

"Tell her we said 'thanks;'  we called all around for a whale watch and then called her back because she was the friendliest."

"She really does enjoy helping people have a good time," I said.

Before the fire, many of our guests would go back into the office to tell her about their time on the water with us... yep, she misses that.

Joan dropped me off at a little shop where I could get a breakfast sandwich; I like to start my morning off with something warm in my belly.  It is a beautiful morning; I enjoyed the walk back to the boat.  We both like the marina environment.  Here's a look as I walked down the main pier this morning...

People are getting out and about.  It was a very busy day in town yesterday, and I expect it will be more of the same today.

It will be my last day on the whale watch boat today.  Bittersweet... I enjoy getting the guests to the whales and providing an enjoyable experience... after 3 1/2 months in one place, I am ready to wander again.  Not necessarily by boat (since I've had plenty of boat time), but Joan needs some time on the water, too. 

The company boat is fueled up, the seats are supposed to be full, the weather is absolutely gorgeous... I am hoping for a good whale viewing to cap off our season here.  We are being asked, "Are you coming back next year?" regularly.  Too soon to decide that.  One day at a time... and this is our last day "on the clock."