The Nonsense of W&J

We love whale and other marine life watching and we love boats.  So, while we were staying in the La Conner Thousand Trails in Washington State, we booked a Killer Whales Charter from San Juan Island.

Before arriving at the docks for the charter with Western Prince Whale Watching Adventures, we had to take a Washington State Ferry from Anacortes to San Juan.  We love taking the ferries in Washington State that provide access to the Pacific Islands in the area.  The ferries have always been clean.  And, loving boats as we do, the ferry trip itself is a fun adventure.  You can book the ferries online with WSDOT and see the Islands and schedules.  If you are in Washington, we definitely recommend taking a ferry ride.

We took the earliest ferry ride from Anacortes to San Juan so we could explore a little of the Island.  Specifically we wanted to visit the Lime Kiln State Park on the Island.  Lime Kiln has a whale watching observation viewpoint and a lighthouse.  Although we did not see any whales from the observation point while visiting, many have.

After exploring the Island, we parked the truck and hiked down the the Friday Harbor docks to get our gear and board our boat.  We love marine life, as you can tell from our videos.  And we were so excited to book a charter to see Killer Whales.  The best time to see Orcas is April through October.  Humpback whales are more often seen August through October.  However, it is possible to see whales and other wildlife year round.

On our charter, we saw a family of killer whales that live in the waters.  It was amazing to see the only male, a brother, and several sisters together of the family pod.  The top fin of the male was six feet tall – the same height as Windell!  Unfortunately, we did not see the mother who at the time had a baby with her.  It was an exhilerating experience and our first whale watching tour.  Since then, we are committed to going on more whale watching tours whenever we can.

Although it was summer when we visited San Juan, being on the boats is chilly.  We were cold, especially on the Killer Whale charter.  If you book a charter or ride the ferry in Washington, you may want gloves, a sock cap, and very warm socks.  It will make your adventures more comfortable.  The charter will provide you with warm clothing for the rest of your body, however.

This was an amazing experience and we still talk about the Orcas to this day.  We have never regretted booking any whale watching or Orca charter.  They are so much fun and we always learn a lot about the animals.

While traveling through Oregon in at the end of September 2022, we were still researching cool things to do.  An article on the internet stated that September was a great month to see gray whales in Depoe Bay, Oregon.  So, by the seat of our pants, we called Whale’s Tail Charters, LLC  to see if they were seeing gray whales and if we could book a couple of seats on a charter.

We could not believe our luck!  Yes, they were seeing gray whales, and yes, they had a couple of openings in a few days.  Wow!   The GoPro does not do justice to how close the whales were. On our way to Depoe Bay, we stopped at the Devil’s Punchbowl.  We knew it was going to be a great whale day when we saw so many of them spouting at this location.

The charter at Whale’s Tail was well worth the cost.  Whale’s Tail Charters has smaller boats with only 6 passengers and a captain. It was amazing to see the whales rise to the surface and blow.  And, of course, seeing the tail at the end just blew us away.  The captain was very knowledgeable and could even identify individual whales.  We saw one whale come to the surface with his mouth open!  If you are in Oregon in September, book a small charter and be astounded at these beautiful amazing creatures!  You will never want the day to end.

We did Pictured Rocks in Michigan three ways – we hiked it, we took the boat tour (which was amazing) and we took a kayak tour with Pictured Rocks Kayaking Tour.

Wow!  They take you on a boat close to Lover’s Leap.  Then, you must get into a tandem sea kayak with another person to kayak through the caves and different rock features.  At first we were both a little skeptical about being in a tandem sea kayak together.  After all, when Windell wants to go right, Jessica always goes left.  We don’t even follow each other in separate kayaks.  Yet, once we got the hang of kayaking together, we realized how much eaiser it was than kayaking separately.

This is an amazing tour that takes you under Lovers Leap, into Rainbow Cave, and is an excellent way to get close to the incredible rock formations of Pictured Rocks.  The sea kayaks make it very easy to maneuver.  By the end of the tour, we were really enjoying kayakin together.  The best part is if one of us gets tired, the other one can paddle easily by themself for a little while.  Of course, we didn’t get the best GoPro filmage with both of us paddling.  Another couple on this tour had a GoPro also, but they were smart.  One paddled and the other one filmed.  But both of us paddling was so much fun and we could go so fast!!