In the summertime when the weather was fine, dad would call out on channel 16 of his UHF radio to one of the commercial whale watching boats. The captain would answer and they’d rendezvous on another channel where dad would get the details on where the whales were that day.
We’d race through the islands from Orcas Landing or Friday Harbor to the whales.
One time, we were at Cattle Point. We sat with our engine off, gently bobbing in the waves. Zoanna, Jubal, and I were all
standing at the bow with our feet in the cabin and our heads and arms through the hatch. In front of us, maybe 30 feet away, a big bull Orca Whale surfaced. It’s dorsal fin, gleaming in the sun, must have been 8 feet tall. In no time at all, the huge whale had covered the distance between us and brushed the side of the boat, at most 6 feet from us. The boat wobbled sideways from the wave he produced, and I reeled backward in fright.
Dad figured that the whale was chasing salmon that were
trying to use our boat as cover. He said he thought whales remember boats and interact with them socially.
I will never forget that moment.
Those days were so fun. What a rush to have the whales swim that close to you. This photo may or may not be from the same day, I can't remember.
Dad's caption on this photo: "Nostalgic photo of Zoanna. One of my most memorable days on the water. It was two days after 9-11. Zoanna was moving into the dorm at the UW. She called and said, dad, can I come up for a couple days? I said sure. Next morning Zo arrived in Friday Harbor on the 11:00 ferry. We jumped in the Glasply towboat, Polaris II and headed down San Juan Channel, through Cattle Pass and into Haro Strait looking for Orcas. We shut the engine down a mile or so off the south side of San Juan Island, drifted and talked. We didn't find the whales, they found us. A whole pod circled us for over an hour. On this trip I member a big male surfaced about 75 feet upwind from us. Had really bad breath! Was one of the most amazing days I've ever spent on the water. We were the only boat there to enjoy those Orcas. Later we back to Friday and had an excellent late lunch..."