Orcas Island

The next morning, I got up fairly early, took a shower and headed out to the shore across the street.  The fog had rolled in, it was fairly early so the light should be good and my hopes were high.  Sometimes though, things just don’t work photographically.

Despite the fact that there was a lot of interesting driftwood, the background wasn’t very favorable and what little creative juices I have weren’t flowing.  Even detailed shots weren’t working for me.  After a bit Ann joined me and it was the two of us and our cameras on the shore.

Still, there was fog, great morning light and the sound, so it was hard not to get something that was presentable.

The moral of this story is, any day you’re out photographing is a good day, even if you wind up not making any really good photographs.  That morning there was the lapping water, the fresh sea air and the pleasure of solitude.  I wonder if Ann got any better pictures than I did?

After a bit of time on the beach we headed out for a great breakfast to start our day.  It was a day of two acts - act one was to head up to the top of Mt. Constitution in Moran State Park, the highest part of Orcas Island, to see what we could see.  Act two was to go whale watching - we figured the place is called Orcas Island for a reason and we should try to find out if that was true.

So after breakfast we headed around East Sound over to the park and then headed up on a fairly steep road.  The views didn’t disappoint and we stopped a couple of times.  You could see the sounds intruding into the island, as well as the fog laying in the low areas.

And you could really see that the island is not flat by any means.

And, of course, I had the best of company!

Once we got to the top of Mt. Constitution, we could see to the East as well.  Whether from the ridge line or from an old tower, the view to the east was amazing.

And with the fog and hills, Mt. Baker was spectacular.

Not a bad Act 1!