Wednesday, July 15- Whale Watching and Waiting

Last night we stayed at the Olympic Lodge in Port Angeles which had very nice rooms and outside there were beautiful water features surrounding the building. Today was our scheduled whale watching adventure. The weather was a little overcast in the morning but soon gave way to sunnier skies in the afternoon. The water was rough and choppy going out and a little cold but by noon it was beginning to warm up. Within an hour of leaving the dock we were following a female humpback whale named Heather and her calf. It was pretty hard to get decent photos because of the large swells and the fact that neither of the whales came up very far and after they would dive you never knew where or when they would surface again. Although my pictures aren't the greatest, the sight of those flukes was something special to see. Captain Smith did a great job navigating the rough waters and later in the afternoon we saw the Dungeness Spit where the Dungeness lighthouse stands. On the end of the beach there were harbor seals with their pups, Brandt's cormorants, glaucous gulls, rhinoceros auklets, pigeon guillimonts to name just a few. It was a very enjoyable trip and Sharon weathered the ride quite nicely.

Dungeness Light

can you see the pup in the upper left

pigeon guillimont

Glaucous gull chick

Heerman's gull

We also stopped by a lavender farm on our way to Everett, Washington. Wish I could grow lavender like this.

Tomorrow, Cascades National Park!!