(Scroll down for added photos, video)
ORIGINAL 9:58 AM REPORT: Getting multiple reports of a gray whale off south West Seattle shores, Brace Point earlier, Lincoln Park near Williams Point (Colman Pool area) within the past half-hour. The photo above is from Rick Rasmussen, who glimpsed it south of Brace Point earlier this morning:
At 730 this morning, I saw what looked like an unusual disturbance in the water, just south of Brace Point, very close to shore. It was in about 15-20 feet of water, but close to the drop off to much deeper water.
It appeared to be a large whale, black or dark gray, with no dorsal fin. It looked larger and also longer than the Orcas we’ve seen around here.
At first, it was moving quickly and sporadically, just breaking the surface of the water and not showing much of itself. Then it started moving slowly in a circle for a few minutes, disturbing the water, mostly submerged. It then partially surfaced and spouted twice, a few minutes apart, then swam off toward the deeper water, showing a lot of it body before disappearing.
12:18 PM UPDATE: While out for the past couple hours, we saw the whale multiple times from Lincoln Park’s north beach and then from Lowman. It’s apparently off Emma Schmitz now – we went there too soon – according to a tweet we received. Lots of whale-watchers out; we’re checking video we shot, and also starting to receive some photos. Here are two from Trileigh – the first is the whale’s backbone, she says:
ADDED 12:46 PM: And this is our short video clip. Not close-enough in to see much, maybe most worthwhile for the oohs and aahs in the background audio!
More photos later as we get them. Gray sightings are not as common as orca sightings in Puget Sound – but they aren’t uncommon either – the whales do detour here sometimes while heading up from breeding grounds in Mexico to summer feeding grounds in Alaska, and there are apparently some that just never bother finishing the trip!
2:37 PM UPDATE: Via Twitter and comments, we’re hearing the whale is still in West Seattle waters – off central Beach Drive (Weather Watch Park) per “dq,” still moving northbound since @kerrywa on Twitter said it was off Me-Kwa-Mooks just before 2. Thanks for the reports!
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