Celebrating Three Years With The Whales

Hunting the harbor seal

If you look closely, at the very top of the tree, you can see the symbol of our nation. 

Deception Pass

My parents were kind enough to drive up this weekend to stay with Jace, so that Colt and I could enjoy a weekend getaway to celebrate our anniversary. We were able to spend most of Saturday in Anecortes on a whale-watching tour boat, and spend the night at a quaint little a bed and breakfast nearby.

We were lucky whale-watchers, indeed! Our tour lasted four hours, and Captain Carl told us that, usually, the majority of the tour is spent looking for whales, and they only get to observe them for a small amount of time before it's time to head back to the marina. But we happened to encounter a pod of resident Orca whales just 45 minutes into our tour, and were able to spend the rest of our day following them around. "T-Pod" consists of a mama Orca, her 14 year old son (who's dorsal fin alone was approaching 6 feet in height!), and her two calves. After a half hour of watching them, a lone male Orca appeared out of nowhere and decided to spend his afternoon hanging out with T-Pod, and so we were able to watch the group of five trap a harbor seal against the coastline of an island, hunt him as a team, and gobble him up for an early lunch. I felt sad for the seal, but it was amazing watching the coordinated efforts of five HUGE whales on a hunt in their natural environment. Nature, man, I'm telling you. It was cool. And after they finished their snack, the two little calves were in the mood to celebrate and show-off, so we got to see them spy-hop, cartwheel, breach, and wave their flippers at our boat. 

I desperately want to be friends with an Orca.

I should probably also mention that we saw nine bald eagles, a porpoise, lots of jellyfish, and a couple of harbor seals as well. But if we're being honest, bald eagles really can't hold a candle to Killer Whales, in my opinion.

Our Bed and Breakfast was really cute. The people who run it are super sweet, and breakfast on Sunday was delicious. They also keep chickens, and a funny little goat named Jackson. He had a fluffy chin-beard, and I loved it. Now I want a beardy goat, but I don't think  I could get Colt to go for it. I can't even convince him to let us get a dog sometime in the distant future.

We had a lot of fun. We missed Jace, but as my mom told me when we got home: "It's important to make time to be a couple." And it is. Thanks for being my adventure buddy, Colt! Whales are pretty cool, but not as cool as you.