We had been thinking about taking a trip to Washington state for a while.  The opportunity presented itself when Matt’s cousin moved out there for the summer.  He works at SeaQuest Kayak tours.  Kayaking with killer whales.  KAYAKING WITH KILLER WHALES.  We booked our trip within weeks of leaving, planning our trip around a visit to Friday Harbor and a tour.

We took a very early flight from Boston to Seattle, then jumped in the rental and hit the road, heading north through Seattle.  The plan for the day was to drive through Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest before heading to Anacortes and eventually Friday Harbor.

Off we went.

Back in the mountains.  Trying to breath it all in: tall trees, big peaks, winding rivers- it was perfect.  We looped around, stopping here and there to jump out alongside a chalky light blue Sauk River.  So peaceful.

Eventually we hit Anacortes.  We had some time to kill, so we stopped off to get a sandwich or two for the trip in the morning.

Here’s a fun tangent- I went to order my sandwich at a local supermarket and the kid behind the counter cut his hand on the knife instead of cutting my bread.  He then proceeded to hide it and continue making my sandwich.. with a bloody hand.  I realized this too late, partly due to exhaustion, and partly due to the fact that I can’t pipe up to save my life- literally, and BOUGHT MY SANDWICH.  Then I found Matt who couldn’t believe I spent money on a bloody sandwich when I wouldn’t even eat meat.  Long story short, I eventually found another sandwich somewhere else.

Aaaanyways, we then drove past the ferry to Cap Sante Park on the Northeast side of the island.

The park is along the coast.  There’s a road and walking paths to get you down to the rocky coast every so often.  The path encircled a forest where you can camp.  We walked along the shore, jumping from rock to rock, climbing the fallen, wind twisted trees.  There were starfish in the low tide pools, and a seal hanging out along the shore.  It was a nice break in our road trip.  After a while we turned around, headed back to the car and found the ferry.

The sun was just beginning to set when the ferry started out.  It was a beautiful ride through the islands, with a glimpse of the Olympic Mountains to the south.  We may or may not have fallen asleep.

Waking up as we docked, we grabbed our stuff and headed off.  Patrick, Matt’s cousin, met us on shore.

Coming from the east coast and having visited Martha’s Vineyard, Block Island, and Nantucket, I know a good island when I see one.  This one was very nice, smaller than I expected, with a focus on whales.  Like, a REAL focus on whales.  Priorities am I right?  We grabbed a beer downtown and caught up a bit.  His apartment was within walking distance, so we headed out and settled in.  I started in with about a million casual whale questions.. which Pat was very patient in answering.

The next morning we packed our backpacks and headed for town, stopping in a few stores, grabbing a breakfast sandwich, walking along the docks and finally sitting down to wait for our ride.

Pat came to pick up the tour group in a giant van trailing sea kayaks.  The trip had just gotten real.  A wave of excitement and terror washed over me as we piled into the van.  We were headed across the island.  The channel is a hot spot for whales.  They hunt, play, and socialize in this area all summer.  The van ride was full of awkward introductions and a lot of interesting information.  Once parked, we geared up (lifejackets and spray skirts-we looked fabulous) and unloaded the kayaks on shore.  We all jumped in our kayaks for a brief “what if” scenario, which only added to my fear of ending up under a kayak, but above a whale in dark water. YAY!

The weather was perfect- blue skies, without a cloud in sight.  The water was so calm.  The sun was hot, but the water was cold on the kayak bottoms.  Perfect conditions.

We shoved off.  Time to meet my new best friends.  Paddling through the cove and stopping above a garden of Bull Kelp, Pat explained how fast it grew and invited us to eat some.  It wasn’t the worst thing I’ve ever eaten.  I’m pretty sure the worst thing I can remember was raw salmon in Boston’s China Town, but I digress.  We continued on into open water.  Half paddling, half letting the current take us, Pat continued giving us some great information about sea life and the area.  The first friend I made, Diane, is a porpoise that swam right for us and dove under our kayaks.  The noise they make coming up for air is great.  Think of a tire letting out a puff of air.  You hear them more than you see them.  There was a bunch of porpoise swimming off in the distance.  Every once in a while a seal would pop up to check things out.

I made up my mind- this was the only way to see these animals.  You were at their level, with minimal pollution to their natural habitat.  Looking out at the horizon there were very few big boats that passed us.  It was a sign that there were no whales in the area.  Either way, we were having an awesome day.

Let’s all pause for some fun orca knowledge:

They are not whales, but dolphins.

They are highly social and highly intelligent.

Orca pods never interbreed.

An orca’s gestation period is 18 months.

When a blackfish sleeps, half of its brain sleeps while the part that allows them to swim and come up for air stays active (whaaaaaat?!)

There are three main resident pods in the PNW islands- J pod and K pod, and L pod.

Granny was the oldest known orca at (around) 105 years old and was part of the J pod.  Recently researchers believe she has died.

Also they can shoot laser beams from their eyes, but they choose not to.

We passed a lighthouse, which marked a park onshore renowned as the only park to actively whale watch in the U.S.  We continued a bit further, watching seals, porpoise, and about a million different jellies until Pat directed us inland toward the rocky shore.  We were to paddle close to shore, following the coast back up where we came from and catch a counter current to our lunch spot.  Along the way we spotted some jellies, sea urchins and the clear sandy bottom of the Pacific Ocean.

We stopped along the beach of a cove, parked and unpacked lunch.   While eating, we heard rustling in the bushes behind us.  It sounded like something large- a deer, or a bear, or a Sasquatch.  Out of nowhere a sea otter jumped onto the rocks.  The cutest sea otter I’ve ever seen in my entire life-like youtube cute you guys.  Daisy was trying to find her way down the steep cliffs into the water without getting close to us.  Surprisingly, she managed it quite gracefully.  She plopped in the water and started swimming around.  It took everything in me to not jump in after her and squeeze her to death.  I felt like that’d be frowned upon, but I guess I never asked.

After lunch and a show, we headed back out, hoping to see some action.  We saw a few different groups of seals napping along shore and an eagle flying high above the water.  We cruised around an island filled with several different bird species and seals and headed back to our starting point.  We had a great day.

After packing up, we headed back to the east side of the island, rested a bit, then got ready for dinner.  We ate at the Rumor Mill then got drinks at the local dive bar.  It was karaoke night.  Fantastic.  The bar was packed with kayak guides, deck hands, and whales.  Seriously, you’d think on your night off you wouldn’t want to talk about whales, but that’s all we heard and it was the best.

Where are the whales headed? Where did you see them last?  What was your best whale experience? How many have you pet?  Which one is your best friend?  Which pod do you belong to?  Have you seen Free Willy?  How about Free Willy 2?

When jet lag had finally set in, after a long day, a few rounds of pool and after every karaoke cover you could think of was sung, we headed back.  A few last minute whale questions and we turned in.

We left Thursday pretty open for plans.  We grabbed some breakfast at the Rocky Bay Cafe then walked to the whale museum.  Of course they have a whale museum.  The museum was a cute little building filled with a lot of information.  I got to vote to name four new orca calves (my votes were- 1. Julia 2. Julia 3. Julia 4. Julia), we learned a lot about the Native American culture and their views on blackfish, and saw a lot of skeletons.  Afterwards, we drove back to the west side of the island to do some good old fashion whale hunting.  We got to a park high up on the island with tall grasses, but a good view of the water.  We pulled over and spotted a lot of boats in the water.. this was a good sign.  At first we thought they were fishing boats, but just in case we headed along the road in their direction.

Then I saw it.  From the backseat, I screamed like a teenage girl at a Justin Beiber concert.  WHALE. WHAAAAAALE.  I was beyond excited.  Driving along the coast you could see them from a distance.  It was very clear it wasn’t a porpoise.  It was a big black arch, several big black arches.  We raced to the lighthouse park, threw the car in park and literally started running for the rocky edge.

And there they were- several blackfish.  I can’t quite explain how amazing these creatures are.  Maybe it was the anticipation of seeing them, maybe it was the build up from being immersed in the whale community, or maybe it was because I’m a big old nerd, but finally seeing them was the best thing ever.  I wanted to squeal, but thought that’d be weird to do in front of a group of fellow whale watchers.  Play it cool self..

There was a group of people set up along the rocky cliff as if they were waiting for fireworks.  Some had lunches, most had binoculars or a camera.  Every time a whale came up the crowd “ooo”d or yelled “orca”.  These were my people.

Having a resident orca expert was awesome.  Pat knew everything there is to know about them and had a trained eagle eye to spot them.  He told us that it was probably an older female baby sitting young whales while the rest of the pod was hunting nearby.  What was great was that he was just as excited as we were to see them.  We heard Granny was out there.  GRANNY!

After a bit, we decided to walk along the path to see another group a bit further down the channel.  Although it was a short path, it felt like an adventure- running down the trail, keeping an eye on the ocean, trying to get a better view.  We stopped to watch some orcas a bit further out, then finally called it quits.

We schemed over ice-cream about plans for the night- a nighttime kayak trip to see bioluminescence.  Side note- some of the best ice-cream I’ve ever eaten- Yo! Friday Harbor ice-cream (cinnamon).

Later that day we headed back across the island.  We set out at sunset.  It was beautiful.  We headed straight past the cove and out into the open water.  We paddled about looking for wildlife.  Porpoise, seals, and a lot of birds.  About to turn around, we spotted something far away that seemed too big to be a seal.

The beauty of being out there alone was that we could scoot around wherever we wanted as fast as we could go.  We headed in the direction of the animal.  Pat thought it might be a sea lion.  After getting closer, it resurfaced, he was right- sea lion.  We followed him around at a distance.  He ended up in the middle of a flock of birds.  As we approached, we realized he was tossing his fish up in the air playing with it.  The sun setting in the background, it was something out of National Geographic.  Once the sun finally set, we headed for the cove to see what bioluminescence we could find.

It was hard to see at first, not until it was pitch black.  You guys, not to be a nerd, but it was like magic.  I scooped up some water to watch it fall and it sparkled and glowed.  It trailed behind my hand like I was Dumbledore.  The paddle swirled it around in circles.  It was so beautiful.

Later that night, back at the apartment, we said our goodbyes to Patrick and thanked him for such an impressive adventure.

The next day we woke up early and caught the first ferry to the main land.  We saw the sun rise between the islands.  I also saw a man, who seemed to already be on the boat for hours, in the throws of a thousand piece puzzle.. he had his day planned I guess.

We were sad to be back on the main land, but excited by our next day’s adventure: Mt. Rainier.