Seattle Trip Part 2 - Whale Watching!

Yesterday I started telling you about the May 2009 trip to Seattle and told you about our first full day of that trip in which we went to Victoria for the day.  Today we'll move on to the second full day of the trip in which we went whale watching in the San Juan Islands.  If you have "Liked" Places You'll Go Travel on Facebook, you may have already had a glimpse of several pictures from the whale watching trip.  Others of you who are just my Friends on FB also may have seen some of these photos over the years.  What I am saying is that every chance I get, I bore people with these pictures.  It was one of the highlights of my life and  I like sharing it.

So, the day began VERY early in the morning.  We needed to be in Anacortes, WA around 10 in order to get on the ferry in time to get us over to Friday Harbor in time for our whale watching trip.  The plan was to grab some breakfast along the way.  I was driving and we decided to get out of Seattle before stopping to eat.  Also, I had brought my GPS with us specifically for this portion of the trip, but my GPS lives in Dallas and was not accustomed to Washington.  Add to that the fact that we had turned it on in the hotel lobby the night before to try to get the route figured out and it created a problem.  You see, when my GPS can't get a signal, it goes into this simulation thing.  Since we were inside a building, it was having trouble, went into simulation and that's where the trouble began.  We had a map supplied by San Juan Safari's that roughly told us how to get there, but a GPS giving us step by step instructions was what we wanted.

After we got out of Seattle the GPS was still giving us fits so we saw a Starbucks on the side of the interstate in Lynnwood and pulled over for breakfast and so that I could mess with the GPS.  I took it into Starbucks with me.  While we were there I finally got it out of the simulation mode, we had our coffee cake and coffee and got up to go.  I was carrying the GPS and was very preoccupied with it to the point of paying no attention to anything else... which is why I didn't notice that I had left my purse containing my drivers license, credit cards, cash, cell phone and so on hanging on the back of my chair in Starbucks.  I mentioned yesterday that on this trip I discovered how scatter brained I can be at times.... this was one of those times.  So, we got back in the car and continued our trip to Anacortes.

I must tell you that the drive was very pretty.  I love driving in an area with lovely scenery that I have never been to before.  At Anacortes we made it to the ferry landing only making one wrong turn in the process.  The plan had been to park at Anacortes and walk onto the ferry.  So, we began to get all the things out of the car that we would need for the day and that is when I discovered that I didn't have my purse.  Of course panic ensued.  But fortunately, my friend Jenny remained level headed and found her receipt from the Starbucks which contained the phone number.  She dialed the phone number on her cell phone, at this point we had left there about an hour and a half ago.  She put me on the phone with them and we determined that they did have my purse and they would keep it in a safe place for me.  We knew that if we went back for it at that point, we would miss our whale watching trip, so we decided to go on with our day and then go back to Starbucks on our way back into the city that night to pick the purse up.  In the meantime, Jenny would have to pay for my ferry ride, lunch and anything I wanted to purchase during the day and I would pay her back whenever I got my purse.

So we went inside the ferry terminal, bought our tickets and waited.  Riding a ferry in Washington isn't really like riding the Bolivar Ferry for you fellow Texans.  At Bolivar, there are two destinations, if you are on Bolivar, you go to Galveston, if you are on Galveston, you go to Bolivar, end of story.  But in Washington, you can take a ferry to multiple locations, so the ferry terminal is much more like a train station.  We finally made it on the ferry and surprisingly even after the morning I had experienced, it was the correct one.  The ferry ride to Friday Harbor was just over an hour long.  We got a table upstairs and began playing with our cameras.  I've always loved ferry rides except when people insist on feeding seagulls.  Why isn't it illegal to feed seagulls???  I've never understood why people do that.  They are nothing but flying poop machines.  I don't want them to fly over my head at close range!

Once we got to Friday Harbor, it was nearly lunch time so we found the San Juan Safari's office and checked in and had a couple of hours before the tour began, so we found a restaurant and had lunch.

The place we had lunch at was called Blue Water, it is pictured to the left with the old cars sitting in front of it.  We sat on the porch.  I don't know what Jenny had, but I had Fish and Chips and it was good.  We both had a beer and enjoyed a leisurely lunch.  From the porch you could watch the comings and goings of the ferries since we were directly across from the ferry landing.  The cars seemed to be "taxis" waiting for passengers to get off a ferry.  Friday Harbor is a really neat place.  I'd love to spend a few days there doing nothing.

The photo to the right is the whale watching office.  The people standing around on the ground are other people who were going whale watching with us.  I believe that deck above the office was a restaurant deck.  We were there on the Thursday before Memorial Day, so people were just beginning to come in for the long weekend.  I am sure that by Friday, Friday Harbor was hopping.

Our boat is pictured below.  One of the reasons that we chose San Juan Safari's was that you could get up and move around on the boat.  I like the idea of being able to move around on the boat.  I think I would be sort of miserable on one of those inflatables where you are encumbered by a life vest all day and you have to remain in a single seat at all times.  What if you had a really big person between you and the water and couldn't even see the whales?

This boat has an enclosed area in the back in case you get cold or the weather gets bad.  There is also a covered area that is not enclosed and then the front, the sides and the very back of the boat are not covered at all.  If you are in the front, you just have to sit down so that the captain can see when the boat is moving.  The crew consisted of a captain and two girls who were sort of whale watching experts.  They could tell you all sorts of things about the area as well as the whales themselves.  It sounds like most days the whale watching outfits are able to spot whales.  Although, there are no guarantees that you will see them on the day you go out.  Apparently, the season is about May 1st - September 15th.  I can't imagine wanting to go out between Sept 16 and Apr 30 anyway just because you would freeze.  Bundle up before you go.  Even if it feels great on land, once you are on the water, it feels a lot colder.  We went out at the end of May on a beautiful sunny day and I had three layers on with a jacket and gloves and still was cold at times.

Anyway, after a short safety lecture from the captain we were off on our adventure.  The boat was only about half full which allowed us lots of room for moving around.  I think at one point probably everyone on board except the crew was on the front portion of the boat snapping pictures.  First we went to a place where there was a bald eagle in a tree and stopped to take photos.  There was a group of German tourists on board who could not understand why we Americans were so awed by the bald eagles.  We had to explain to them that they are our national bird and then they all began speaking German amongst themselves. I'm pretty sure they still didn't get it.  After that we went to this small island where there were seals and a pair of bald eagles.  Here are a couple of photos from there.

 To the left you can see seals sunning themselves while others either play or eat in the water.  Below is an eagle in flight with a seagull above him.  It wasn't until we got around to the other side of the island that we discovered there were actually a pair of eagles there.  Once we left this area we were on our way in search of whales.  I guess the captain had gotten a location on some and so we took off.

As we rode along in the boat, the scenery was beautiful.  The water was generally smooth.  I doubt that they have many problems with people getting seasick on this trip.  But you never know.  I am sure that there are some people who can get seasick in a large bathtub.  Also, we were out on a very nice day.  Maybe when the weather is bad, it gets rough.

Once we found whales we stayed near them for a couple of hours.  Boats are not allowed to get close too them for the whales safety.  So, I think once the boat gets within 100 feet, you are required to turn off your engines and just float until the whales move away.  I could be mistaken on the distance. It could have been 100 yards or even 100 meters.  Again, this was the trip when I discovered that I am scatter brained.

American Bald Eagles

 When we got our first glimpse of whales it was so amazing!  The group we watched had several adult whales in it and one calf who stayed next to it's mother at all times.  Apparently the experts can tell which whales are which by the shapes and marks on the fins and their saddles.  So, they began telling us about them as we watched and snapped photos.  At one point a whale came up just a few feet from another boat nearby.  You could hear the people on the other boat.  There was a kid on board who got soooo excited!
We didn't get to see any whales breach on the day we were out.  They all just swam along quietly.  On a few occasions, I was able to get three and even four whales into one shot.

Mom and Calf

Mom, Calf and another member of the pod

Four whales in one shot

Toward the end of the day as we were starting to head back in, a big male whale that they call Ruffles was spotted so, we went over to take a look.  He was by far, the biggest whale we saw that day.  While all the other whales had sort of hugged the shoreline, he was out in the middle of the water swimming alone.  But you can see in the photos below, how much bigger he was than the others.

Ruffles

Ruffles sizing up a boat...

By the time we started heading back to Friday Harbor, I think most of the people had seen enough and were ready to get back on warm dry land.  As for me, I think I could have stayed out as long as someone was willing to let me.  Back in Friday Harbor, we decided which ferry to take to get back to Lynnwood before Starbucks closed and then had time to walk around for a while before it was time to board.  We did a little wine tasting and walked away with a couple of bottles of wine and we did a little souvenir shopping before boarding the ferry.

As the ferry arrived from Anacortes late in the evening packed with people coming to Friday Harbor for the long Memorial Day weekend, Jenny and I realized how fortunate it was that we had planned our whale watching trip for Thursday rather than Friday.  There were very few people on the ferry going back to Anacortes.  At Lynnwood, I ran into Starbucks and was promptly given my purse.  I cannot tell you how grateful I was for the honesty of the people at that Starbucks.  I don't think that we made it back to the hotel until around 10 that evening.  It was a long day, but so worth it.

The next day we actually did sightseeing around Seattle.  I'll tell you all about that tomorrow.  Until then, have a great day!