I went to the outer coast Saturday afternoon. I'd missed the perfect blue sky weather of the day before (tech woes finally surmounted: both desktop PC and notebook were sick simultaneously for several days, while I spent HOURS and DAYS on the phone with DP slowly trying diagnostics of one sort and another), and by the time I got out there to First Beach the wind was blowing like crazy and I knew I'd not be able to see whale blows. I stayed in the car on the point, reading and sometimes watching for quite a long time. They are passing by, they are surely passing by, plentiful sightings in Puget Sound (though no word from further north yet).
It's spring break for my job at the college, and tomorrow I leave for a one-week family visit. This might not be my year for seeing much in the way of gray whales.
If I have learned to feel their presence when I see blows, from just the sight of the air they breathe, then shall I teach myself to feel their presence when I know they are there, even though I couldn't tell a blow from the whitecaps and blowing spray. Not try to persuade myself that each more-vertical splash of spray could be a whale, but just know, "Out there, somewhere."
Maybe.
3 comments:
If you joined Olympic Coast Marine Discovery Center as a volunteer, you might get closer. With enough hours (not all that many, really), you can take trip (usually in September) out on RV Tatoosh. Last year, we saw gray whale and calf at Crescent Bay, and then we saw the whale sight seeing boats out of Victoria. Grr. I was going to show you pics of Seal Island, but I guess I can't put into comment. If you go to Olympic web cams, you can find LaPush web cam and know how weather is out there beforehand.
do you ever do the whale cruises? island adventures out of everett or anacortes, depending on the time of year, is the group we like. they travel mornings and afternoons, and every trip has been successful for us. we have now seen grays, minkes, humpbacks, and orcas...all of it magical, indeed. you can go to their website and see how the cruises are going, what they are seeing, etc. the naturalists are good; everyone is quite helpful and friendly.
also, safe travels, mb!
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