James and Laura Aboard!

James and Laura helped us move Heron from Cortes Island to Port McNeill in late July.  It was hot and sunny when they landed in at Cortes...

But alas, big B.C. rains set in the next day.  James and Laura proved to be not only brave but game, as the (much-needed) rain continued for the NEXT TWO DAYS straight...

We were rewarded in the end, however, by one of the most memorable evenings any of us have ever spent aboard Heron.  After pounding our way up Johnstone Strait, we motored into the Broughton Islands, which in the early evening light were all misty and silvered.  Then Laura said, "Is that a whale?"

And sure enough, it was...

Then we all witnessed a remarkable thing: a group of Humpbacks 'bubble-net feeding,' working in tandem to drive a school of herring together before scooping them up in a big coordinated whale-feast, so to speak.  We don't have pics of the whales circling round then rising up out of the water, unfortunately.  But the water, boiling with birds and bald eagles swooping in for the banquet looked magical.  Like this...

After a cozy dinner and evening spent anchored in Spout Cove, we woke the next morning to bluebird skies. James and Laura took the helm while Jeff worked on the Macerator (and Sam texted his encouragement from NYC:  "it's not a Heron trip w/out a Macerator adventure").  We tied up in Port McNeill just in time for the float plane ride home.