There are no real vacations for Susan Berta with Orca Network on Whidbey Island.
Most of her trips involve sea creatures.
In Maui, while attending a Whale Tales workshop with researchers and photographers, she was thrilled to note that humpbacks have doubled in number since she was there 12 years ago, she said.
“They are everywhere,” Berta says. “It is amazing.”
On a whale-watching cruise Sunday, they found themselves in a pickle. Sure, they wanted to see whales, but they didn’t want one to lounge under the boat making a goo-goo eye at all onboard.
“The whale-watch company was following regulations,” Berta said. “Once the whale got so close to us, they couldn’t safely start the engine until it left us alone.”
The juvenile humpback snuggled under their Zodiac with a dozen watchers onboard.
After more than a half -hour of flirting, the whale was distracted by a peer and swam off, allowing guides to start the engine.
“It was so incredible and unexpected. The tour operators said they’d never experienced anything like it.”
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It sure looks like winter, but there is a Welcome Spring Plant Sale this Saturday on Camano Island. Find red osier dogwoods, small noble firs, Niagara heirloom grapes, rhubarb corms, Shasta daisies, red flowering currants and native plants from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at The Open Gate Farm, 269 Russell Road on Camano Island.
Plant them now or plant them later. You’ll be ready for the good weather, said Jon Stevens, who works the 2-acre sustainable farm with his wife, Elaine.
There will be cinnamon rolls for sale, too.
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Feeling out of the loop about electronic gizmos? Take a class in Oak Harbor.
Learn about e-readers, Kindles, Nooks and iPads at 3 p.m. Tuesday at the Oak Harbor Library, 1000 SE Regatta Drive in Oak Harbor.
Go to the free class if you are thinking about purchasing a product, or need to learn how to work the one you own.
Managing librarian Mary Campbell says there are about 40 million e-readers in the hands of consumers in this country. Sno-Isle Library customers can load free electronic books through the library web site at www.sno-isle.org. For more information, call 360-675-5115.
Kristi O’Harran: 425-339-3451, oharran@heraldnet.com.
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