I've a Whale of a Tale to Tell...

We went whale watching today, off of the San Juan Islands of Washington. These islands are quite close to Vancouver Island (home of the lovely city of Victoria), but the main difference is that the large Vancouver Island belongs to Canada, while the San Juans belong to the United States.



It was fabulous! It was an all-day tour, stopping for a bit in the incorporated town of Friday Harbor on San Juan Island. In the afternoon, we caught up with a local pod, L-Pod, a group of 26 orcas who live in this part of the world pretty much year-round.

I took lots of pictures, but I have a couple of disclaimers:

1. The sky was not so dark as these pictures look. I must have accidentally turned the flash off. It was overcast, but not as bad as it looks here.

2. Orcas move quickly and the Strait of Juan de Fuca is pretty much just like open sea--in other words, bumpy. Therefore, I don't have many pictures of actual orcas, just the local scenery.

Without further ado, my pictures:

We arrived in Port Townsend shortly after 8:00 this morning. Here is the shop:






The harbor area of Port Townsend:






The boat:


Point Wilson Lighthouse:


San Juan Island (for which the network of islands is named)






Entering Friday Harbor (only incorporated town in the islands):








The harbor:








Where we had lunch:


The town:








Funny:




Going back to the boat:




"Here, orca, orca!!"


Dramatic Landscape:










Okay, we saw a LOT of whales, but they're quick--so I got ONE picture of a dorsal fin, but we actually saw many, many dorsal fins, and FOUR breaches. Awesome!! So yes, that little black triangle in the middle of this pic is a dorsal fin:


Two brown pelicans, apparently rare in these waters:


And that is pretty much it. We had a lovely day, and the tour was very well-done. Now we're all tired (all three of us are battling colds right now). I'm getting ready to hit the sack and get some rest, myself.

Cheers!