A Beautiful Day on the Water

We have had a very wet winter and spring but today it was absolutely beautiful! The sun was out and it was nice and warm for this time of year (about 70) so we decided it would be a great day to go whale watching again. We took Vickie and Willis with us and had a very successful day relaxing on the water, enjoying the sunshine and looking for whales.

 

 

The whales were just off Hat Island again so we didn't get to do much cruising before we were right where the whale tour boats hang out. Since it was a sunny day we were able to spend most of our  time up on the fly bridge and had a chance to discover just how glad we are to have that feature on this boat. It's the perfect place to see all around us in every direction and Bob is able to visit with the rest of us while still piloting the boat.

We think we saw two different whales and they were quite happy to show us their flukes. I took about 120 pictures trying to capture that one really terrific shot. I still haven't gotten that one but I did get some of the fluke and we have proof we saw them!

As we headed back to Everett, I got a nice picture of the Cascade Mountains.

The Everett Naval Base is at the entrance to the Everett Marina and we could hear the many sea lions barking as they relaxed on the submarine net surrounding the base.

It was another wonderful day of boating. Today made me very excited for the coming summer months to do a lot more boating. It's fun in any weather but sunny days are definitely a plus!

A Whale of a Day!

We have been wanting to get out and see if we can find the gray whales but our last attempt with family was very windy and too rough to stay out. Today we had calm seas and even though it rained a little it was great for cruising. We took Margaret and David, Janice and Mike, Sharon and Al, and Jerry (Holly was not feeling well) out with us. We loved discovering we could have 9 adults on the boat for an afternoon of fun and we had plenty of room. The salon is so much bigger than in our last boat. The pilothouse easily held six of us at a time and there were times we squeezed in more. I can see that getting the 42' was a great move for us. More room for friends and family!

Bob checked to see where the whale tour boats were heading and they were out by Hat Island. That worked out well because we did not have to travel far and were able to spend most of our time just watching for the whales. Everyone brought food so we had a feast for our lunch! Sharon even made a "whale" fruit bowl for us.

Before and after lunch we saw several whales. Once we saw two together and it appeared that one was a calf with its mother. There was a lot of spouting and occasionally a fluke appeared. It's difficult to get pictures because by the time I would spot one and raise my camera, it would go below the surface. My best luck came by setting the camera for continuous clicks. I did manage to get a few of the fluke and was surprised to even find one with his head out of the water.

We had a wonderful day and couldn't have been happier with the whales that we saw. Thank you to our friends who made the time to join us!

Not What We Were Expecting!

Wow! What an adventure we had! We took Alley, Preston and their girls as well as Robyn, Gavin and their kids out to look for whales today.

 

 

There was a light breeze when we left the marina but as we got out toward Hat Island the wind came up and it was so rough we decided to turn back. We try to go where the whale tour boat goes but even if we had been able to continue on, it looked like they were headed way north of Hat Island at about 14 knots so the whales must have been quite away out.

 

After we turned around we noticed a Coast Guard cutter watching us and getting ready to drop their inflatable to send a boarding party to pay us a visit. As intimidating as it was to have them board us for an inspection, they were so nice! As they left, I thanked them for their service and they said it was really nice to come aboard and have the people treat them nicely! Even though we didn't get out to the whales we had a great time and some stories to tell!