Tired

My mom was here from last Wednesday until this morning.

We had a great time and I look forward to her coming back. But I am exhausted. We covered a lot of ground while she was here. We spent one afternoon in Seattle, another day putzing around town, and another in Vancouver (where we may have spent longer but there was a Canucks game that night, and the last thing I wanted to do was get stuck in Canadian hockey traffic). The last day, though, was really amazing.

We went whale watching.

When we began to make the plans months ago, Mom wanted to whale watch. I did some research and found out there is such a thing as whale season. We settled on a time and made plans. But, it turns out whale season where I live starts next weekend. Other areas--like places on various islands and Canada--are running now. But in my town? No. At the last minute I found a guy based on Orcas Island (Outer Island Expeditions) who ran whale tours year round. After a lot of finagling and changing plans, we nailed down a time and location.

He picked us up on a beach on Lummi Island. It was plain cool. He just pulled right up and we climbed on the boat. I had no clue that could be done. We spent three and a half hours on the water, most of them at the base of the Straight of George. The J Pod of residential Orca whales was in the area and in no hurry to go anywhere. There were between 30 and 40 whales. They would pull together in a group, they would spread out. They jumped. They slapped their tails. Simply put, it was amazing.

Mount Baker

Earlier when I talked to Beau, the captain, he asked what our goal was for the tour (Outer Island tries to personalize each trip). Mom wanted to see whales, and I just wanted to get out on the water. We got both. We could hang out on the back end of the boat (I don't know what it's called in boating terms). We could climb up on the very top (the view was amazing). While out on the water we had spectacular views of the whales, but we also had a clear views of Mount Baker and the Canadian Cascades.

Whales with the Canadian Cascades in the background


Whales and Canada, Part II

I've heard people talk about how incredible it is to whale watch and they speak of it in almost hushed tones. Now I understand why. I could have spent all day out there, standing on the boat just watching the wildlife and taking in the view.

It was one of those days that reminds me why I live here and why I love it. Now I can't wait until I get another chance to get back out on the water.

I took some fuzzy video with my digital camera. It is far from perfect, but you can see the whales in motion.