An amazing journey

Today at around noon my oldest son called. He wanted to borrow the chainsaw to take care of all the fallen limbs and trees from the winter snow storm. I told him it would be fine, as long as I got the wood. That set into motion an incredible ride on the ferry. (S2 knows; I had to call as I could barely contain myself.) Figuring the grand daughters nap times I decided to hop on the 2:15 ferry to the mainland. I love riding the ferry. It is especially nice when the weather is as beautiful as it was today. Some kids in the car in front of me started throwing french fries to the seagulls, so we had a huge flock alongside. (That was when I realized I had forgotten the camera.) All of the normal canned messages played and then the captain cut in. "There is a large pod of orcas off the bow if any one is interested." I immediately headed to the front of the boat. They were off the port bow. One suddenly breached and we could see the white patches.

Fantastic!! Suddenly, as they are a bit closer I notice two tiny dorsal fins next to several large ones. It feels as if the heavens have opened for just a tiny amount of time. I admit to getting a bit of a "rush" whenever I see a bald eagle. I have several nests around me, but they still cause me to pause and take a breath. The orcas did the same thing, but in a bigger way. This was a rather large pod. I couldn't count the fins as they were quite obviously fishing. The only ones that stayed on the surface for more than a second or two were the calves and their attendants. My call to S2 revealed that this was the K pod. She heard in the past few days that there were two new calves born. What an thrill. I still cannot stop smiling. I love my life. Living here really is a gift.
(Both of these pictures are of the K pod; Taken off the internet. Photographer not listed .)



When I was growing up my best friend's family had a 30' sailboat. We would go out in the summer. Sleeping was a trip; as we would anchor out in a protected bay and be rocked to sleep by the sound and motion of the waves. I remember one morning awaking to the sound of her somewhat grumpy Mom. She loved to fish off the boat. It was just one of those great things; sitting in the rocking boat, warm coffee, and a line in the water. This particular morning Mom was not so terribly pleased. We were surrounded by orcas. They were right next to the boat. They were swimming under it. We could see their eye looking into our's. It was amazing, and I think even Mom had to agree. The issue was that if you are in amongst the orcas (then called "killer whales") there would be no fish. What a great way to start the day. Those are memories I will cherish for the rest of my life. Special people and special places. We sailed over to Kingston a time or two. We would tie up to the guest dock and go up to the Kingston Inn for lunch, then sail back home. I never thought I would someday live here.

So, tonight I go to bed happy. Life is good. Sure there are a few bumps in the road, but once again I know that I would not change a thing.


G2

Guess what I heard on the news tonight! You were lucky enough to see K and L pod, joined up and swimming together! That's why there were so many of them. You lucky!
S2

It was surreal; they made the news? I wonder if they were celebrating the new calves. Believe me, I felt pretty darn lucky. (Edited out a few "amazings;" I guess it must have been my word of the day. Sorry 'bout that!)
G2