Feelin' the Love

Richard took us out on his boat last night. He was taking his boat from Marysville to Everett. It doesn't seem like it should take very long, but it is always a perfect evening trip.

A couple of weeks ago, the Sound was still and calm, the evening balmy enough for us to jump in. Tonight, I wanted to jump in and swim with the whales! Yes, we came upon 2 grays, feeding in the shallow water between Hat Island and the marina. He cut the motor so we could drift and watch the one whale feed within 20-25 feet from the boat. No exaggeration!

We stayed and watched for about an hour. They had this rhythm. Roll, roll, turn and stir everything up from the bottom into it's mouth with the bottom fin while the top fin rose completely out of the water. Wait a few minutes then this 30 foot smooth mound would roll up and down doing it all over again. We saw it's head first, then it's back glistening and rolling. The fin was huge! Quite a few times, we saw it's tail come up. It never smacked the water though, like you expect from cartoons and other such notions. Watching it blow, hearing it up so close and almost feeling the mist......in our imaginations we smelled it's foul whale breath! :)

I was so happy with the 2 eagles and several seals and 2 sea lions we saw! The whales feeding, so close up was over the top! We've lived here 12 years + and we're still awestruck and continually amazed.....