Maybe He Only Speaks Whale...

We woke up to grey, cloudy skies and cooler temperatures again this morning, unfortunately.  Luckily, the whale watching was able to take place though.  After a rather leisurely breakfast and visit with Robert's cousins and their husbands, we took off down the coast to meet up with our rescheduled excursion.  Because we were coming to the island from the north this time, the GPS took us via the Balboa Ferry over to the island as opposed to the bridge we took yesterday.  It was a cute little ferry that has apparently been in use since 1919 - that's nearly 100 years!  I should also confess to an error in yesterday's blog post; the photo from Balboa Island looking at the Ferris Wheel was looking at Balboa Village, not Newport Beach as I had said.

 

We then parked our car, found the embarkation dock, and met Captain Nick and the other couple who were on our excursion with us.  We boarded the boat and set off in search of aquatic mammal life.

Before we even got out of the harbour, we were lucky enough to see some sea lions basking in the not so sunny dock.  Shortly thereafter, we zoomed past some more sea lions that we were assured we would stop to see on our way back.  And on we continued out to the ocean.  Suddenly, there were dolphins jumping and playing near our boat.  The kids (and perhaps Robert and I too) were ecstatic.  Captain Nick may have even laughed at Duncan at one point.

Unfortunately, in spite of Captain Nick's best efforts, we were not lucky enough to see whales today.  He explained that the grey whales are nearing the end of their long migration north so spotting them tends to be hit or miss.  He took us out to deep water too in an attempt to possible catch some humpback or fin whales but none were to be had today.  He saw a Minke whale but it didn't breach again so that the rest of us could see it.  

On our way back, just as promised, we stopped to get a good look at the sea lions on the buoy.  They were fighting and barking and it was fun to see.

To ensure that Robert was convinced that I am jinxed, and to just have another story to tell, I suppose, when he tried to start the boat up again, it would not cooperate.  After multiple attempts to get the engine to turn over, Captain Nick had to call Harbour Assist to tow us back into the harbour and the dock.  We thought it was sort of funny but I think he was horrified and embarrassed and insisted on refunding us all of our money in spite of our attempts to refuse.  To top it off, the sheriffs were being a little bit jerky to the poor guy who already felt terrible.  Now, Nick was very much the laid back, southern California surfer dude; he reminded me of Crush the turtle from Finding Nemo when he talked except that he had an American accent as opposed to an Australian one.  The sheriffs asked him if he was feeling okay, if he had any medical problems.  Then they took his driver's license, took over the steering wheel of his boat, saying "I don't like your answer."  One of the other sheriffs was nicer and it seemed as though the jerk got on board too once they figured out that this was a chartered whale watching excursion and not a bunch of stoners out with their kids in the middle of the ocean.

All in all, in spite of the cold weather, the lack of whales, and the boat breaking down, we had a great time.  I would certainly do it again.

By the time our tour was finished, it was 3 pm and we were way overdue for lunch.  We decided to make our way to the Newport Beach Pier which is home to the original Ruby's Diner, which is a Southern California 50's style diner, complete with red tables and chairs and uniforms.  

It was another great day, even though Mother Nature seems to have it in for us.  Here's hoping the weather is nicer tomorrow for Katherine's baptism as there are a whole lot of people invited over after for a meal outside...