It was smooth water at the dock but word was out that the wind was blowing off the west side of San Juan and news of whales headed south closely followed that report. In general it is nice and flat out here and we rarely have anyone get sea sick however when news of 3-4 foot waves comes in it tends to make us a bit nervous. We headed off the dock with a boat load of excited folks who we warned that it could get rocky out there and to be prepared. It was a beautiful ride as we went around the north end of the island. We rounded the corner near roche harbor and the swell picked up but only a little. Even though the swell was small we were getting some good spray from the waves and to my surprise these folks were into it! Kids and adults were on the bow take the spray from the waves and smiling! The others gathered in the cabin staying nice and dry.
The waves rolled a little more as we neared the whales but the good news was they had turned and headed back north out of the swells. So all of that worry was for nothing we played in the waves and so did the whales! What an amazing time we had watching them porpoise, breach and tail lob! Some of the passengers got AMAZING photos of the breaches. It appeared to be a combo group of some of J pod and some of L pod. When we left there were porpoising away towards Canada....they must have had a dinner date!
-Casey