We spent most of the Labor Day weekend at Friday Harbor.  Most of our time was spent exploring the island and relaxing.  And, of course, there were some decent photo opportunities.

One oportunity was Lime Kiln Point State Park, which is apparently one of the best places in the world to view whales from land.  The park didn't disappoint:  even though the sign says that the chances of seeing whales on any given day and time are only 20%, we went twice and each time saw three pods of whales pass pretty close to the park.

Getting a good picture of the whales wasn't nearly as easy.  Most of the time the whales are surfacing just enough to breath, which means all you get is their top fin and a small bit of their head.  We did see several whales jump out of the water, but even with a great telephoto lens, it was really hard to know where to point the camera.  I got lots of dramatic splashes resulting from whales jumping out of the water, but few pictures of whales in mid-jump.  The one time I was pointing the camera in the right spot the whale was too far away for a good picture:





Still, it was quite a bit of fun.  Definitely recommended if you ever visit San Juan island.

One unexpected photo opportunity was in American Camp on the south part of the island.  We were driving near the beach and a fox ran up to the car.  I had never seen a fox before, and in all we saw three foxes in the area.  It was pretty foggy that morning but I still got some decent shots.