PORT TOWNSEND — P.S. Express, the North Olympic Peninsula’s only orca-watching tour operation, has a whale of an expansion project marking its 20th season.
New this year is a second four-hour tour boat, a new Point Hudson passenger lounge and gifts shop.
“The demand for whale-watching is growing,” said P.S. Express co-owner Pete Hanke, explaining Wednesday why he bought the 49-passenger Olympas from the former Captain Jack’s whale tours business in Port Townsend.
“People want the time so they can get up and see whales without going eight hours. There’s a need for both.
“We have such a large draw from Sequim and Port Angeles, and that group still loves the all-day tour.”
The second boat, which cruises at 28 mph, allows P.S. Express to offer four-hour mid-day guaranteed whale watch cruises, giving visitors the option of not stopping in Friday Harbor, which comes with the eight-hour tour aboard the larger Glacier Spirit.
Unlike the Glacier Spirit whale tour, beginning May 24 the Olympas will take whale watchers on tour that does not look around San Juan Island and stop for 2½ hours in Friday Harbor.
Maintenance work
The Olympas is expected be launched at Port Townsend’s Point Hudson Marina on Friday, Hanke said, after some dry dock maintenance work in Fleet Marine’s Point Hudson boat yard.
Hanke and his wife, Sherri, have been busy painting and remodeling the building they leased this year from the Port of Port Townsend, which was formerly used by Pygmy Kayak Co. on the south side of the marina.
The new lounge will allow passengers a cover and a place to relax prior to boarding.
The P.S. Express ticket office will remain in a modular building used for eight years on what has become the Northwest Maritime Center site at the end of Water Street, said Hanke.
The lounge and gift shop is directly in front of and a short jaunt from the Glacier Spirit and Olympas docking spaces.
Those wanting to take a P.S. Express whale trip can visit the company’s Web site at www.pugetsoundexpress.com for schedules, prices and other details.