Commencement Bay, and Whales!

It was a great day for kayaking - sunny but a little cold. I hadn't been out on the water since I left for Japan, almost 2 weeks ago. Last year I discovered that kayaking is a great antidote for the Christmas season. I spent last evening at Best Buy, Suncoast, and Target and didn't buy anything. Yesterday morning I had gone to Toys R Us and didn't buy anything either. It's all the same old junk -- nothing original. It's not worth the time to go out shopping when you could be out kayaking instead. It's better to just buy everything over the Internet!

Today I made sure to take my neoprene mitts. I went out to the Tacoma waterfront from Thea's Park and ended up in the middle of an Orca pod in Commencement Bay! There were at least 7 of them - about 5 clustered together, and 2 or 3 scattered around to the west. They headed south into the Bay and close to the industrial area, then back out toward the north and Vashon Island. I was the only kayaker out there, and there were a couple powerboats and a sailboat. I got about 20 yards from one of them in the middle of the Bay. There was nothing but the sound of the water and the whales blowing. Such strength and power!

Sorry - no pictures.   I like to travel light these days.

Here is the report from the Orca Network from November 2005.