As a brief respite from pro-and-con posts, I'd like to offer an
observation about boating that is a big reason my wife and I wanted to
get a trawler.  We use our boat year round, wind permitting and despite
the boat's not having any built-in cabin heat system-- thank you
California :-)

A few weeks ago we took a weekend cruise to visit some friends on one of
the smaller San Juan Islands.  As we approached the bay we moor in, a
large "thing" surfaced a short distance in front of the boat.  We've
seen harbor porpoises, Dall porpoises, and Orcas, but this was something
much different, and much larger.  For want of any other idea, we decided
it was a gray whale, although we've had gray whales feeding all around
our boat in Bellingham Bay, and this did not really look like one.  It
surfaced a number of times near us and then it wandered off around the
island.

Our friend's daughters have a whale identification book, and we were
going to look it up, but as soon as we mentioned what we saw, they said,
"Oh, that's a minke whale.  It's been hanging around this side of the
island for the last several days."  So were it not for our boat, and our
nice slow trawler speed which allows us the opportunity to observe
things between looking for logs and crab pot buoys, we would never be
able to see a minke whale.

Makes the repairs and the varnishing and all the rest of it worthwhile,
in my opinion.

C. Marin Faure
GB36-403 "La Perouse"
Bellingham, Washington

Thanks Marin for a great post. It is why we're here and why we need to
prepare our boats for those wonderful cruises so many others miss.
I remember being anchored on the first Skooch, off Mobile Al, at Ship
Island. I only had the boat a few months and I couldn't sleep listening to
the bottle nosed dolphins circling the boat for hours that night. We swam
with them the next day. In the wild, what a treat. Best sleepless night I
ever spent.

Skooch
Worton Creek MD

We exchange Christmas cards with many friends and relatives and this year,
received one from cruising friends we first met as customers and since have
been good friends.  They are both getting up there age wise, but continue to
go strong and I admire them for it.  They cruise aboard a sturdy 38"
fiberglass boat, single engine.  They routinely cruise up north into SE
Alaska and BC each year.  Their Christmas letter this year gave account of
two separate encounters with whales as follows:.
"While exploring the west coast of Vancouver Island, we had (two encounters
with whales).  The first happened at the northern tip of the island when a
humpback surfaced under our boat.  We were looking right down his blowhole
but at 7.8 knots there was no way we could stop.  He gave us quite a bump
and roll when he dove, but we never saw him again."
"It was quite a different story with an Orca named Luna.  He has been
separated from his pod for two years and the tourists in Gold River have
made a pet of him.  We had not heard of Luna when he discovered us and began
ramming his head so hard against our boat that we lost control of the
steering.  A fellow boater whose rudder was destroyed by Luna, advised us by
VHF to bo back the way we had come and we would lose him.  After about two
hours of hammering the boat, Luna left, but we were so shaken by his
attempts to sink us that we anchored for the day in the nearest cove."
They are planning to be on their way north again this year, hardy souls that
they are.  We plan on circumnavigating Vancouver Island this spring/early
summer for a shakedown of all systems prior to heading down south for a
while.  I sincerely hope Luna is either sleeping or has found a mate and
therefore pre-occupied when we go by the Gold River area.  Some links on
Luna are http://www.lunastewardship.com/images/october_images/  &
http://www-comm.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/pages/MarineMammals/l98_e.htm  &
http://www.eurocbc.org/Environmentalists_outraged_by_DFO_captivity_suggestio
n_for_ORCA_LUNA_21Aug2003page1218.html  Has anyone else heard of Luna?
Good luck,
Bob Lowe

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We were off Cape May NJ a little over 100 miles out, fishing. It was an
exceptionally beautiful day. We saw a few spouts on the horizon. Then we saw
what looked like a whale on the surface a few hundred yards ahead. Dad and
my sister went up to the bow to look, directing me at the helm. They pointed
the way and I steered towards their pointing.

Now, that didn't work out well. They were pointing at the sleeping whale
which somehow was suppose to indicate that I was not to steer any closer.
(see head phone on TWL list) When the screaming started it was too late. My
sister says the whale was 50 feet long. Dad just yelled. The whale woke up
with the 35 foot Chris Craft heading directly for it and dove raising his or
her fluke in protest, and splashing the boat in a torrent of spray. Dad the
sis were soaked and mad. And scared. The whale never hit the boat and we
never saw it again. I thought it should be mad and come after us and my
sister said we were all gonna die ( she says that a lot ). But we didn't and
I caught a white marlin a few minutes later. My first.

I really wish I knew what kind of whale it was. Its most likely is still out
there, sure would like to see her again.

Skooch