For three years I've been trying to take my now 12-year-old daughter to the Seattle area for a whale-watching tour, but every time we think we're going to go, something happens. We finally made it yesterday! We went on a 4-hour boat tour of Puget Sound and watched a pair of humpbacks for about 20 minutes, saw dozens of seals, a few bald eagles, and orcas. We followed the orcas for over an hour, with them coming as close as 80 yards. The male in the pod is one of the bigger orcas on the west coast at 27 feet... just a huge flippin' beast. Got to watch the pod catch a seal, then turn it over to the 11-year-old juvenile female of the pod to practice her technique on before they all helped her eat it. It was National Geographic stuff from 200 yards away.
Just an amazing day with my daughter and some memories to last a lifetime. I got a lot of pics, but they weren't particularly good. The whales are tough to photograph. When they break the surface, you only have a second or two to aim and focus, then they're gone.
View attachment 3053755View attachment 3053756
As a humorous side note, I'd texted my wife the day before that we were going on a three to four hour tour, which was partly to set up a joke for later. Yesterday morning when we called her from the marina, I said to her, "So, we're going on a three hour tour and..." She cut me off and said, "Don't even, Gilligan. I saw that joke coming a mile away. I know you too well."
