Harbor Porpoises are referred to by the crew as little ‘puffing pigs’ because of the sneezing sounds they make as they surface for air.

Ginther says, “It’s been my previous experience that Harbor Porpoises are very timid. At Deception Pass, however, they love saying, ‘Hello’. We are not sure what is encouraging them to come up to our boat, but we’re loving it!”

Deception Pass Tours understands the need to respect the park and the environment. Their vessel, the Island Whaler, has been designed to reduce fuel consumption and the jet drives significantly reduce noise.

Deception Pass Tours encourages other boaters near Deception Island to use precaution if they spot Harbor Porpoises in the water, and to shut down engines whenever possible to allow them to pass.

Cameron Goff, Lead Naturalist for Deception Pass Tours muses, “Our very non-scientific study has shown that Harbor Porpoises’ favorite weekend activity is tourist watching.”

Tourists to the area can be “watched” by the porpoises aboard the Island Whaler, for just $21 for children and seniors and $25 for adults, DURING nearly all of their hourly tours of the area.

Sure enough, that was the last time he had the dream.

At the time, plain old Brett was in his 10th or 11th year of building boats at Nichols Brothers Boat Builders, and thought he might be doing that for the rest of his life.

But he started getting an itch to get his captain’s license.  And a year or so later he did.

About 6 months after he got his captain’s license, he took Terica on an hour and a half drive from Freeland, WA to Anacortes to get his Nextel Phone fixed.  It was strange- all of the Nextel Stores in Island County & Skagit County were closed that day- EXCEPT the one in Anacortes!

On the way into the Nextel store, Captain Brett nearly drove off the road- There – in the parking lot of all places – at Island Adventures was the BOAT- From Brett’s Dream! It had been years since he thought of that drawing. Terica told him he had to go in there and see if he could get a job- and luckily Shane Aggergaard hired Brett to run whale watching tours for him.  It was his first official Captain’s job, and he was certain that was what HIS dream was all about.

After the season, however, Island Adventures decided to sell that boat, and that began Deception Pass Tours.

After searching for years to find the drawing, they finally did.  One look and you’ll be amazed at the similarities between it and the Island Whaler. Both are such unusual designs.

Today, over 50,000 people have taken a Deception Pass Tour, and contributed to the fulfillment of one man’s dream.

From Brett & Terica:
From this experience we have learned that God can give people dreams, and they are good.  He also loves to give presents.  And, it was such a present to find this silly drawing and remember that He is still helping us chase after that dream.  We are confident that just like the Island Whaler magically appeared, that his dreams for us do and will continue to come true.  In the hustle of everyday living, it’s easy to forget our (God’s) dreams for our future and it’s great to feel reassured that he continues to put people and things in our path to help us fulfill them.

Plans continue to grow for this upcoming event. Many local groups, businesses, agencies, dignitaries, and others are joining together to make this a special day.

The East Cranberry Lake area will be the focus of the celebration, with a short event planned at the bridge at high noon, 75 years to the minute from when the ribbon was first cut to open the bridge to traffic.