What! Another Day of Celebrating

Today, Jim and Ellie treated Mark and I, for his birthday to a

boat trip through the

San Juan Islands to watch the Orca Whales.  Our trip left out of Port Townsend on

a four hour cruise.  We left from the harbor and quickly came

upon this California Sea Lion taking a nap on this buoy.

We proceeded through some pretty rough waters that took us by

Smith Island where we saw a giant eagles nest on the ground.  We also saw some seals playing along the shoreline.

Now, we are

back out in the open waters and it wasn’t too long before we caught up with the

whales.

Mark was up top

with camera in hand ready to capture their

every move.

I was at the back of the boat and caught this guy

trying to catch up with us.

Jim was somewhere in between and I am sure he got some great shots as well.

Ellie was down under and sick as a horse.  All the rough waters did not set well with her.  I am so sorry she didn’t get to enjoy the sites from up top.

When we had seen all the whales that we were going to see, our

boat captain decided to take us back to Port Townsend by way of some calmer waters.  I thought this route was pretty scenic….we saw

lots of sail boats, speed boats,

and kayaks.  We saw

yachts towing small boats and

ferry boats carrying lots of cars and people.  There were

beautiful beach areas and

islands everywhere.  We also lots of

beautiful water front property.

By this time Ellie was feeling better, but Mark wasn’t feeling too good and

was out looking for some fresh air.

Even with the captain taking the so called calm way back to Port Townsend, we did have to come through some pretty rough waters….but soon we were passing

the lighthouse and the

sea lion that was still sleeping on the buoy.  At this point we were just a few minutes away from

where we started.

What a great day.  I am sorry Ellie and Mark got a little “sea sick”, but I assured them that I had enough fun for all of us.  Now, once we were back on land, they both quickly recovered and decided they were ready for dinner.  We were off to locate

a place to have fish and chips.  This restaurant was recommended to us by some local folks and they didn’t lead us astray.  The fish was delicious and the

view was awesome.

Thanks Jim and Ellie for a great day.  And, Mark says thanks for all the birthday comments and for helping to make his 62nd birthday great.