West Seattle, Washington
11 Tuesday
As Jim Borrow‘s photo from today’s port-crane move reminds us, Puget Sound can be a busy place. If you’re among those who navigate its waters, the U.S. Coast Guard has a survey for you. Here’s the announcement they asked us to share:
The Coast Guard is seeking public comment in regard to its ongoing Waterways Analysis and Management System (WAMS) review of Puget Sound from Possession Sound to Dalco Passage. [map]
The Coast Guard uses WAMS to validate the adequacy of existing aids to navigation (ATON) system, as well as to get a better understanding of the uses of each waterway and general safety issues.
WAMS focuses on the waterway’s current ATON system, marine casualty information, port and harbor resources, changes in recreational and commercial marine vessel usage and future development projects.
The comment deadline is Nov. 20. For more information contact Lt. j.g Katie Matha at 206-220-7283 or Katie.E.Matha@uscg.mil.
To participate in the survey, go here and choose the Puget Sound North survey.
12:02 PM: Thanks for the photo! Last week, we reported that three cranes are moving from West Seattle’s Terminal 5 to Tacoma, now that Matson has moved its weekly Hawaii service there. The first crane is being moved today – it’s just left T-5 by barge, and the Northwest Seaport Alliance says it’ll arrive in Tacoma around 5 pm, passing West Seattle shores along the way. Two more are to be moved next week, says the NWSA. Three others will be dismantled and removed later this year; new cranes will arrive next year in time for the opening of the first expanded berth of the T-5 modernization project.
12:18 PM: Now visible off west-facing West Seattle. (added) Photo sent by Sue in Morgan Junction:
Thanks for the tips! A humpback whale is in our area this morning, in Elliott Bay off Luna/Anchor Park. Kersti Muul says it’s traveling southwestward. If you haven’t seen one before. here’s the species-ID page on The Whale Trail‘s website.
Thanks for the tips, and to Gary Jones for the photo. That’s the USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70), headed out of Puget Sound after a year and a half of maintenance at Bremerton:
After 17 months undergoing regularly scheduled maintenance, Mighty CVN 70 is underway! Want to see more pics and video? Check out our Facebook page @USSVinson pic.twitter.com/dEvhTpnDK4
— USS Carl Vinson (@CVN70) August 23, 2020
The Carl Vinson arrived in January 2019; now it’s switching homeports to San Diego.
(Added: Photo by Danny McMillin)
P.S. The Kitsap Sun reports that we won’t likely have another carrier sighting for a while – USS Nimitz (CVN 68) is out on deployment; the next carrier due for major work at Bremerton is USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71), next year.
Thanks to Jim Borrow for the photo. If you were out looking for orcas from the shore of Elliott Bay this afternoon, your binoculars might have shown you that gigayacht instead. Bravo Eugenia, owned by football mogul Jerry Jones – who owns the Dallas Cowboys – and named for his wife, has been anchored in the bay for a few days. MarineTraffic.com shows it sailed here from Auke Bay in Alaska; British Columbia news sites noted it passing Vancouver Island despite COVID-19 travel restrictions. The 357-foot gigayacht was built by Oceanco, noted this report touting its fuel efficiency, among other features. (Two helipads, says this report.) How much longer will it be here? No hint in regional-media reports so far!
Thanks to Kersti Muul for the report – transient orcas are southbound off Eagle Harbor (Bainbridge Island), “more east in the channel.” Let us know if you see them!
Thanks to Stewart L. for the photo – he noticed the Water Taxi navigating through “at least 100 boats” around 6 am. This site indicates salmon fishing is allowed today in East Elliott Bay, so that’s the big draw.
Thanks to Kersti Muul for the tip! She says transient orcas are off West Seattle again, this time headed northeast, between here and mid-Blake Island. Let us know if you see them!
Thanks to Stewart L. for that photo of a yacht passing West Seattle this afternoon, headed into the Duwamish River, the 217-foot Hodor. According to this link Stewart found, and other info we subsequently turned up, Hodor is no mere superyacht – it’s a European-built SUPPORT yacht, meant to support another superyacht … with features from a helipad to an ROV. This SuperYacht Times story from a year ago has more details and photos; a related website says the Hodor and the yacht it supports are owned by billionaire Lorenzo Fertitta. The Hodor s currently anchored off Magnolia, according to MarineTraffic.com, as is its “mothership” Lonian; Puget Sound Business Journal writer Patti Payne explains why.
Transient orcas, seen in the area a few days ago. are back – reported off Fay Bainbridge State Park and heading southwest about an hour ago, so you’d definitely need binoculars, but this is a heads-up to be on the lookout. (Thanks to Kersti Muul for the tip!)
Thanks to David Hutchinson for sending photos from orcas’ visit to Elliott Bay on Thursday evening.
These were transient orcas, not the Southern Residents.
Unlike the resident whales, transients’ food sources include other mammals – seals, sea lions, even other whales.
David’s photos were taken from Duwamish Head and the Alki promenade.
Thanks to Donna Sandstrom from The Whale Trail for calling with word that orcas are northbound off Brace Point, south of Fauntleroy. They’re not currently close to our side of the Sound, though, so take your binoculars.
1:03 PM: Heads-up for whale lovers – Kersti Muul shares the news that southbound orcas were reported mid-channel off Shilshole about half an hour ago, so unless they change their direction, they could be in view now, or soon, off West Seattle. Let us know if you see them!
1:57 PM: Kersti says they’re “Visible with binocs from Alki and Sunset overlook.”
Thanks to Kersti Muul for the tip to keep an eye out for orcas today – as of a short time ago, “Orcas are northbound again at entrance to Colvos Passage. Two groups today – one went south and is at Pt. Defiance.” That’s Tacoma, so you might not see them any time soon, but Colvos Passage is along the west shore of Vashon Island, so if those whales continue heading northbound, they will be in view from here. Let us know if you see them!
Lots of boats on Elliott Bay right now. Thanks to Jim Borrow for the photo and explanation – it’s the always-popular one-day season for spot-shrimp fishing. (Not even one full day – 7 am to 1 pm in Elliott Bay, 7 am to 11 am west of the bay – but the state’s announcement notes, “Additional dates and times may be announced if enough quota remains” afterward.) ADDED: This of course has filled Don Armeni Boat Ramp’s lot – this photo, from early morning, is by Stewart L:
Thanks to Lura (who sent the photo above) and Peter for the tips – the seasonal bloom of Noctiluca is back. Our archives have sightings going back a decade; the state Ecology Department says sightings were reported as far back as the mid-1940s. Sometimes (like last year) it’s been seen by mid-May, sometimes not until mid-July, sometimes not at all. The state has a simple explanation here – it’s NOT toxic, and it’s NOT a spill, though it’s also NOT a good thing – and more research details here.
Thanks to Duncan for the photo. That U.S. Navy submarine passed West Seattle as it headed northbound in Puget Sound a short time ago – MarineTraffic.com, which identifies it only as “U.S. submarine,” shows it already well north of here.
Thanks to Stewart L. for the photo. That’s USCGC Healy, one of the Coast Guard’ two icebreakers. It’s based in Seattle and currently doing sea trials to get ready for its next mission.
Friday ended on the gray side. So we’ll start the holiday weekend with some views shared by your West Seattle neighbors earlier in the week:
Some beautiful sunsets – above is Theresa Arbow O’Connor‘s photo from Thursday night; below, Lynn Hall‘s photo from Monday night:
Tuesday night, Nicole Neufeld recorded this timelapse:
And three views with vessels:
Above, John Hinkey photographed a barge in a sunbreak Tuesday night; below, David Hutchinson noted an outbound cargo ship with the Olympic Mountains as a post-sunset backdrop Friday night:
And Dan Keller caught the fireboat’s show off Alki on Wednesday:
Thanks again to everyone!
Thanks to Kersti Muul for word that there’s a humpback whale in the area, seen in Elliott Bay off Duwamish Head, a few hundred yards out. (If you’re not sure how to ID a humpback, check out this page from The Whale Trail‘s species guide.) Let us know if you see it!
4:10 PM: Thanks to Eli Barlag for the photo. That’s the Ready Reserve Force cargo vessel M/V Cape Hudson, which arrived in Elliott Bay today after sailing up from Tacoma. It’s a 750-foot roll-on/roll-off cargo vessel, 41 years old, based in San Francisco and often chartered for military operations like Pacific Pathways. According to a Maritime Administration social-media post from earlier this year, Cape Hudson is still part of that”mobility exercise, taking on and discharging cargo at domestic and international ports … an annual operational deployment exercise designed to determine the best methods for planning, preparation, execution, and ordering of craft to move troops and equipment.”
ADDED MONDAY MORNING: Without docking in Seattle, Cape Hudson sailed on this morning, currently shown on MarineTraffic.com as northbound in Puget Sound.
(Photo sent by Vicki)
2:31 PM: Thanks to everybody who’s been asking about the U.S. Coast Guard helicopter and vessel off west-facing West Seattle. We just talked with the duty officer at USCG District 13 public affairs and he says they don’t have anything search/rescue going on in this area, so as far as he knows, it’s training, which is common on Sundays “to get their hours in” when nothing else is going on.
3:21 PM: Over now. (We went down to see if we could catch a photo, but no luck.)
6:16 PM: Thanks to Jamie Kinney for the video.
Ann Anderson sent the photo and story of a small act of kindness on this sunny Saturday:
Wanted to send out a big thank you to these West Seattle residents who were taking a row off of Duwamish Head early this morning. Their lifeboat was called into action when a photographer dropped her camera into the water off the small pier near Salty’s. After unsuccessfully attempting to get the attention of nearby scuba divers, the lifeboat rowed over and stood by while the photographer (me) jumped in and dove down retrieve the camera from under the pier. It turns out that the familial group – Hayden, Emily and Katherine – were out celebrating not one, but two birthdays today (in a quiet, isolated, C-19-responsible way) when they so kindly assisted a stranger in distress.
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