Whales watching people
There is something about being on open water that just pulls at the soul. But since most of us don’t have that experience that often, some never at all, we forget there are a few realities to it. First, it’s a lot colder and windier out there. Even on a nice calm day, you don’t have the cover of buildings or trees. The wind sneaks up on you. Especially when the crew would rather get the tour done with and crank the engines up to 11. It’s very task and goal-focused. Get you to the whales and marine life. Anything in between, well, haul ass.
Not that I mind that. Hauling ass across open water is fun. But you can only take so much. Pam and I stuck it out a lot longer than nearly anyone on the front of the boat. Except for this one 10-year-old kid. Even his parents decked out in expensive outdoor gear had to surrender to the sea. Both parental outs left the kid out there to his own devices. He was probably really miserable, But at last, he was able to shake his parents on this god-forsaken family road trip. That’s something I would have done at that age.
Even he would come back into the enclosed section of the ship. If for nothing but a cup of free hot chocolate. That was a nice thing, free coffee, and hot chocolate. Really most people brought snacks. I think that you can figure out the people that are really travelers compared to tourists. We brought some snacks, but a few couples looked like they had provisions for a day or more.
We need to remember to pack like that. As a traveler, that’s one of the things that will help make your travel funds last longer. Bring snacks. Eating out for dinner is fine and fun. But snacks, get it together with snacks. I really felt that we didn’t pack enough snacks.
This is not a small boat. It’s a twin-hulled catamaran that can fit 120 people. Benches and seats everywhere, in the front, back, and sides. Then there was the enclosed section. I quickly surveyed the seats and figured 100 folks could fit inside. But I’m not good with math, so don’t trust that.
What about the actual whales? Well, the first hour of the trip was hauling ass at 11 straight west out of Vancouver. Other groups informed the crew that there were Orcas to be seen by Nanoose Bay. As we closed in we could see a pair of Zodiak boats, then a pair of dorsal fins from two males. We drifted in closer and everyone went to one side of the boat to get a look. Good thing the ship was a twin hull catamaran.. It’s a hell of a cold dip if we all go over.
No matter how you try, you will not get good pictures of whales. Really just enjoy the moment. Try a little bit after a while and give up on photos. The whale tour has a professional getting pictures. Just enjoy visiting a part of nature where you are really just an interloper.
We hung out there for around 40 minutes. By then the rain had kicked back up, like it ever really leaves the Pacific Northwest. You get on hour or two of sunshine and everyone takes a break from work.
I really just think the captain liked to race full blast across the Strait of Georgia. But we didn’t blast right back to Vancouver. Shooting north, we followed the north coast of the strait. We moved up to the rocky outcropping of the White Islets, were a large pack of seals basked on what have been warmer rocks than the strait.
It was impressive. The captain shut off the engines and let us drift in. Quite close. I was half expecting to feel a clunk against the hull from a submerged rock. But, this not his first rodeo, we missed that disaster.
We crawled up the north shore on the way back to Vancouver. It was nice. We were close enough to see the houses that we won’t be getting anytime soon. A few of them look to be on their own island. Not fancy, but you have to wonder how long some have been in the family. The only way on is a boat dock. I could see that some time in history that these were folks that made a living off the sea.
I wonder how many are still doing that. With the commercialization of everything and the trend towards larger corporations, how many are still making a living?
We saw Orcas, seals, and birds, none of which I remember the names to. Don’t feel bad about it. Nature will forget all the different people that were on the boat.