We took a five hour cruise out of Port Angeles on the Island Adventure on August 12th. What an absolutely awesome day it was. The ocean was so calm. In the bay the water was like glass and in the ocean the seas were calm. The sun was out and even on the water we only had to wear our jackets for about an hour and then it was warm enough to go without them.
The whales were enjoying the weather too. We first spotted a blow from a humpback whale and the Captain took the boat out to investigate. We saw the whale dive but didn't get a chance to get pictures. He said we could wait five minutes for him to come up but he just spotted a pod of orcas and decided to chase them down instead.
There were at least three pods of orcas out there and sometimes two of the pods got together. At times the boat was surrounded by whales. One orca came up from under the water and breached right next to the boat. We didn't even see him coming so that was something! The whole pod stayed close to the boat for quite awhile and it was awesome.Our Captain told us that we should all buy lottery tickets when we got off the ship because he had never had a more exciting day going after whales and he had been doing it for a long long time, He said not to think that our next whaling adventure was a bust because it didn't live up to this one because this cruise was just one for the books.
It was definitely a great trip.
Prior to the cruise, we had lunch on the pier and walked around a bit.
Okay, it was time to join the group waiting to get on the cruse.
Just look how glassy the water is today.
Heading out of the Port Angeles Bay to the Strait of Juan de Fuco
Here we go
The Coast Guard Helicopter
Whenever a whale dove down, they left this type of a pattern in the water which would stay this way for quite awhile. It was interesting.
Orcas abound!
Beautiful scenery too!
This Cruise Ship stopped to watch the whales for awhile
There goes the tail!
Race Rocks Lighthouse off of Vancouver Island in Canadian Water
Lee taking pictures of the whales.
He's waving Bye!
That is his tail!
Another Cruise Ship - She was way overloaded compared to us
This is a humpback whale's tail
Here he is diving again
Now he is just showing off!
Down he goes again!
Here's another humpback letting us know where he is!
When this humpback gave us the tail wave goodbye, the Captain said it was time to go home. He was exhausted from chasing all of them today. They certainly weren't hard to find that is for sure. The weather was so nice by mid afternoon, we didn't even need jackets to be on deck.
Here is the view coming back into the bay. Lovely!
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