Hey, remember that vacation my family took back in July/August? Well, I'm back to blogging about it. Day 5 of our fantastic adventure we went whale watching. We awoke at the crack of dawn and made our way to the port to board the Victoria Clipper.
I was so nervous about getting on this boat. I so wanted to see the whales, but I get motion sickness so bad. And to add to this fact, I am petrified of water. So, we found a table very close to the door so I could get some air. It was f-r-e-e-z-i-n-g! However, I would much rather be cold than ill! We were on the boat a little while before we began our three-hour journey to Friday Harbor. So the girls entertained themselves by taking pictures when their cameras (and with mine).
Then eventually we were off. And as far as the motion sickness goes, it really wasn't all that bad.
It was quite foggy on our journey.
As an added bonus, we saw some harbor seals on a little island.
I love how this shot turned out of a lone sail boat in the middle of Puget Sound.
After a relaxing ride, we pulled into Friday Harbor, dropped off a few passengers, and picked up a few new people. I took this picture of a large ferry taking off as we were docking.
Then we were off to see if we could possible spot some killer whales. We were told that there was a chance we might not see any but that 80%+ usually see whales. As we were making leaving Friday Harbor, our on board naturalist informed us that whales had indeed been spotted this morning and was sure we would be able to see some. We were certainly not disappointed. Whales swim in pods. Over the years, experts have tracked and recorded these whales. If a whale has not been discovered at the time of birth to be able to track his/her actual age, they are said to be "established" the year they were discovered. The oldest living whale's name is Granny. She swims with the J-Pod and was established in 1911! We were actually able to see her on this trip. I will point out which one is her below. We were able to see the J-Pod and the K-Pod while we were out. Orca whales have different markings on their bodies that allow for the distinction between whales and pods. Our naturalists was calling out names of pods and whales, but after uploading the pictures, I had to to the Whale Museum of Friday Harbor's
website in order to distinguish between the whales in my photos. I couldn't decide which editing style I preferred so I apologize for the varied colors and contrasts.
When we had located the whales, our boat came to a near stop in the water, and a few of us at a time were aloud out on the lower deck of the boat. I took a picture of where I was standing on the boat. I sacrificed my fear of water for some good shots. It was worth it, but I gotta tell you this photo makes me a little sick to my stomach.
In the picture below you will see Granny, she is the whale in the center with the large gray spot below her fin. And the whale in front of her is performing a move the whale experts call "tail lobbing."
Quite possibly the highlight of this trip was watching the whales jump in the air. This move is called breach. If you will notice in this picture, the boat that is so extremely close. Regulations are different for different boat sizes. The larger the boat the farther away from the whales you have to be. I think I would have been scared half out of my mine to have been on a boat this size. I would have gotten much better pictures though. I was wishing I had a large zoom lens.
Whale watching was certainly an amazing experience. If you never done it, you should take the opportunity to do so. We were reluctant to leave the whales, but alas we had a schedule to keep or rather the boat had a schedule to keep. So we headed back to Friday Harbor.
Once we docked at the port at Friday Harbor, we had a few hours on San Juan Island to do a little shopping, checking the sites, and eating.
We returned to the port just in time to see our boat heading toward us to pick us up.
While we were waiting for the Victoria Clipper to begin her voyage back to Seattle, I took this shot of Mandy. I don't think she knew I was taking it. I like how classic and beautiful she looks!
When we nearing Seattle, we made our way to the very windy top deck to see the sights from there. Quite amazing!
I had sea legs for days once we got off the boat. I would feel like I was floating. But it was worth it. What a great day. We said good bye to the port just as the sun was setting.
On our way to the bus stop, we went through the Public Market again and stopped for ice cream. Then we were back to the vacation house to get some rest for Day 6.
