Orcas saved the day

Been burning my candles at three ends. Went to Bumbershoot (huge music and arts festival in Seattle) on Saturday. Three of us had the three types of admissions (in hand, will call, at the door), but we got there early enough to deal with it. Saturday night I thought I'd lost my cell phone, but it went home with someone else and I was able to get it back Sunday (felt pretty darned naked without it). Sunday I had to be ready to be on a boat all day for a sailing race back in Bellingham, 85 miles away. Although quite overcast with dark clouds, it was still. Never topped four knots for more than a couple minutes, and by 1pm they called the race. On the horizon some black fins appeared and a cluster of boats were following. In the next hour or so was one of the most amazing things I've ever experienced.

I jumped at the chance to get in a little skiff and buzz around the harbor to get a better view of the animals. They came quite close to shore and I probably could have seen them from the park below my home. There was one large male, three mid-size (assuming they were females), and three babies jumping out of the water and splashing their tails about.

Up here I've only seen them at a distance. That they would venture into this shallow, mercury-infested bay was little short of miraculous. They may have been following the salmon, which are plentiful this year. Once they got within about 50 yards of the far north side of the bay they came around and awed us again with their passing back out into the sound.