(10:22 PM – 2 more photos, including SBX and stand-up paddleboarders!)
(Photo added 1:46 pm, courtesy of Toni)
As first reported here Monday morning, the Sea-Based X-Band Radar (SBX) that’s been so prominently visible from Harbor Island’s Vigor Shipyard for the past two months is making a short trip today. As scheduled, around 1 pm it headed out into Elliott Bay. It’s scheduled to be out for about six hours of testing while the floating offshore-drilling ship Kulluk is maneuvered into Vigor at the end of its long tow from Dutch Harbor, Alaska.
ADDED 2:29 PM: Kathy Olson shared this photo from Seacrest:
Our friends at MyBallard.com have photos of the Kulluk as it was under tow earlier. (added 3:11 pm) Here’s CL’s photo as the Kulluk rounded West Point into the bay:
We don’t have formal word on this, but one report we encountered while researching all this yesterday indicated that the work on the Kulluk is scheduled to take at least seven months. Meantime, SBX was expected to be out for at least six hours today, so if you want to see it out and about, you might get to see it moving back toward the shipyard before dark.
ADDED 6:22 PM: Thanks again to everyone who has been sharing photos of the sights at sea – again, SBX is NOT leaving permanently, it’s been here two months and was expected to be at Vigor at least three. First photo, WSB co-publisher Patrick Sand got a view of the Water Taxi with the SBX behind:
This one’s courtesy of Rebecca Nelson (editor of RavennaBlog.com but passing through via ferry):
Our original tip about these marine moves came from her. She also spotted a sailboat near a Coast Guard vessel enforcing the 500-yard keep-away-from-SBX zone:
Might add a few more later.
9:52 PM UPDATE: The SBX was still out in the bay when we passed by after the Hi-Yu concert, a little more than an hour ago. And we have this photo courtesy of Debra Herbst:
We believe those would be the Tuesday night stand-up paddleboarders from Alki Kayak Tours, with extra sights this evening.
ADDED 10:22 PM: David Hutchinson shares the view of the Kulluk in one of the late afternoon/early evening sunbreaks:
As Shell told WSB in a statement yesterday, they hope to use the Kulluk to drill in the Beaufort Sea next year, off Alaska’s northeasternmost coast.
| 23 COMMENTS