PROTECTION ISLAND — It’s not a trip to the zoo.
But the cruise around Protection Island at the mouth of Discovery Bay offers plenty of opportunities to view marine birds — such as colorful and elusive tufted puffins — as well as whales, seals and porpoises.
“This is a sample of a world we never get to see,” said naturalist Roger Risley, a volunteer with the Port Townsend Marine Science Center.
The center has been sponsoring a series of Protection Island “puffin cruises” every Saturday for more than a month.
The cruises’ emphasis has been on spotting puffins, and it’s all done from a large boat — it’s against the law to get any closer than 200 yards to Protection Island, which is a national wildlife refuge.
The final cruise in the series is this coming Saturday, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
The marine science center began offering Protection Island cruises in 1994 as a way to thank the hundreds of volunteers who enable the center at Fort Worden State Park to function.
But for the past couple of years, the cruises have been open to the public.
On the July 22 cruise, about 35 marine wildlife enthusiasts and a PDN reporter were on board the Glacier Spirit, a 65-foot motor vessel owned by Port Townsend-based P.S. Express, a wildlife cruise company in its 21st year of operation.
As the Glacier Spirit, skippered by owner of P.S. Express Peter Hanke, set out on the eight nautical-mile trip from Point Hudson to Protection Island, Risley was on hand as tour guide along with Johanna King, a volunteer with marine science center.
