West Seattle, Washington
22 Friday
The beautiful weather’s back, which means more people heading out on the water. But Seal Sitters has a reminder for you … steer clear of sites where seals haul out, because recklessness – or even simple curiosity – can endanger baby seals’ lives, without you ever touching them or even going ashore. Robin Lindsey‘s latest update on the Seal Sitters‘ website explains.
If you were in the Alki area tonight, you may have noticed that vessel – the 231-foot Mt. Mitchell – spending a long time just offshore. We received a few notes about it, and Mike shared that sunset photo. We don’t know exactly what it was doing – here’s the data from MarineTraffic.com – but we do know it’s a research vessel, once in service for NOAA, but now privately owned (here’s the infopage on the website of the company that owns it), and specializing in underwater mapping. We’ll see if we can find out tomorrow exactly what it was up to (if someone who knows doesn’t happen by here sooner).
It’s been three days since 27-year-old Alex Kongsgaard waded into Puget Sound during low tide beneath Emma Schmitz Overlook on Beach Drive, soon paddling away alone in an outrigger-equipped kayak, bound for Glacier Bay, Alaska. Tonight his family shares a quick update: Alex has checked in from Friday Harbor in the San Juan Islands (map). His short message: “Yarrrr!” He’s hoping to reach Glacier Bay – about 1,200 miles from here – within two months. (Here’s the story we published after covering his departure on Tuesday.)
Overnight, David Hutchinson shared that photo of the Thursday afternoon crowd at Alki – and also overnight, the National Weather Service updated its forecast for this first day of West Seattle Summer Fest. The “heat advisory” remains in effect till 9 tonight, and the projected high could reach the low 90s. Fabled forecaster Cliff Mass, though, thinks it could be as much as 7 degrees below Thursday’s high, which was a recordsetting 95 at Sea-Tac Airport. Back at the beach, David noticed this:
Was it an algae bloom? He points out a possible one was reported here on WSB exactly a year ago, also during hot weather.
As the “second day of summer” begins – here’s the latest forecast – we have two you-don’t-see-THAT-every-day photos to share, both taken along Alki on Tuesday. The first is from Eilene Hutchinson, who explains:
We were out enjoying the sunshine with a walk along the Alki Promenade when we met Jason Aman and his 3-year-old albino Burmese Python, “Albi.” Albi drew quite a crowd of onlookers who had many questions.
Next, from Bob Bollen:
(Related to Journey to Makah 2010, later this month, maybe?)
Story and photos by Keri DeTore
Reporting for West Seattle Blog
When asked by US Coast Guard Auxiliaryman Craig Smith whether I’d visited the lighthouse before, I sheepishly admitted that, in my 27 years in West Seattle (13 of them three blocks from the lighthouse), I had never taken the tour.
If you haven’t managed to get there either, I urge you to find a sunny weekend afternoon and do so – since it’s only open during the summer, and only on weekends. Not only will you learn a lot about the history of the lighthouse and its inner workings, you’ll have a lovely view from the top of the tower.
(WSB photo taken from the South Park Bridge on Wednesday)
One day after kayakers on the Duwamish River witnessed history as the South Park Bridge creaked open one last time, the next round of community kayak tours on the river has been announced by the Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition, in connection with West Seattle’s Alki Kayak Tours, as well as Camp Long, and other organizations. Read on for the schedule, and how to save your spot:Read More
(Photo courtesy Joe Follansbee – added Thursday)
Just got last-minute word that the tall ships Lady Washington and Hawaiian Chieftain are scheduled to sail in Elliott Bay, including along the central waterfront and past Duwamish Head, during the next hour and a half or so, as a detour on the way to a stay in Lake Union – read on for the official announcement:Read More
Just in case you see them and wonder – we just received word from the Port of Seattle that two Royal New Zealand Navy ships will be sailing into Elliott Bay tomorrow to dock at Pier 66: the frigate Te Kaha and fleet-replenishment tanker Endeavour. An open day for public viewing of Te Kaha is planned 10 am-3 pm on Wednesday (June 23); the ships then will leave on Thursday, bound for San Francisco. 2:56 PM UPDATE: Peter McGraw from the Port checked on the arrival time for us – around 6 pm, so you might see them in the bay starting around 4:30 pm tomorrow.
Alki photographer David Hutchinson sent that photo a short time ago … and we could just sit here looking at it all night. So we’re publishing it fast so you can see it too. After a surprisingly sunny day, forecasters say we should expect a gray day tomorrow, maybe even some thunderstorms. Might not even crack 60 degrees. (June 14th and we haven’t put the flannel sheets away yet.)
Orca Network is quoted by the Kitsap Sun – which has been tracking transient orcas in waterways by Bremerton and Silverdale – as saying the transients have been spotted off our shores today. No other details so far but we’re committed to sharing whale sightings, so you are now on alert! 5;31 PM UPDATE: Howard from Orca Network says the sighting in question was Tuesday, not today. The transients have been seen again in Kitsap County, but not off WS, today.
It wasn’t just West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day – for dozens of people, it was a sail day: This was part of the Seattle Yacht Club Tri-Island Vashon Race, according to Beach Drive Blog – and Gary Jones shared photos taken from Alki. For those who didn’t have their own boats to sail, a Washington State Ferries ride would have yielded a great view too:
Thanks to Bob Bollen for that photo; Bob, along with J. Leddy, David V. and Ron, sent word of that submarine sighting off Alki Point, northbound , in the past hour. Earlier in the day, David Hutchinson photographed a more frequently sighted vessel, just as the storm clouds rolled in:
Thanks to everyone who shares photos of what you see around West Seattle – here are all the ways you can share.
Thanks to WSB Forums member HMC Rich for sending the photos, one of which he headlined “What a catch.” There’s probably also a joke in here about “dumpster diving” – in this case, the dumpster itself apparently did the diving. We don’t know HOW it wound up in the water at Alki, but there it was – right off the heart of the boardwalk near 62nd/Alki – requiring expert intervention:
Rich says, “Seattle Parks and Ken’s Towing fished it out.”
If you’re looking north/northeast into Elliott Bay early Monday morning – between about 5:15 and 6 am – you may see ms Amsterdam, Seattle-headquartered Holland America Line‘s flagship, which’ll be the first cruise ship to call in Seattle this season, during a 108-day around-the-world journey. The Port of Seattle is expecting 223 ship visits this year, up five from last year; Celebrity and Norwegian Cruise Line will dock at Pier 66, while Holland America, Princess, Royal Caribbean, and Carnival will dock in Magnolia. More info here (though the schedule link doesn’t appear to be working – we’ve got a message out to the port seeking a copy).
(March 27 photo by Trileigh)
In case you haven’t yet seen the link in Herongrrrl‘s comment following this morning’s coverage of the whale-towing operation off Arroyo Beach: We now know what happened to the gray whale that spent the day swimming in West Seattle waters on March 27. The Orca Network page on Facebook linked to this update from Cascadia Research regarding the four gray whales found dead in Puget Sound before the one in the Arroyos on Wednesday. According to that update, a gray found near Fidalgo Island on April 11th matches photos of the whale watched here three weeks ago. It was described as thin, with its stomach full of “woody debris.” While this is certainly sad news, there’s an important paragraph in the Cascadia Research report:
At this point while these deaths are important to monitor, we do not consider them alarming and they do not appear to reflect any specific problem in Puget Sound. None of the whales that have died are the regular animals that visit Washington waters on a regular basis each year. These appear to be stragglers from the larger gray whale population of close to 20,000 gray whales that typically migrate north past Washington each spring after fasting several months in warmer southern waters they use as their breeding area. This makes April a period when whales that did not get enough food on their Alaskan feeding grounds may be running out of their reserves. A major mortality event occurred in 1999 and 2000 in which 50 gray whales died in Washington State in the two years combined.
One of those whales beached in West Seattle in 1999 – the last stranding here until this week in The Arroyos. (Again, that latest one was towed away this morning for a necropsy at an undisclosed location to the south – here’s our report, to which we just added information from Seal Sitters‘ Robin Lindsey, who works closely with NOAA, that the whale has been “secured” at the location where that necropsy will be done tomorrow.)
Thanks to Trileigh, wildlife photographer extraordinaire (remember Wollet the owlet?), for providing the first photo we’ve seen of one of the orcas that have been in the area today. She took the photo from the south side of Lincoln Park. (Here’s our earlier story, with updates and comments tracking the sightings.) ADDED 8:52 PM: Trileigh sent this one later, after going through hundreds more she took:
(BACK TO ORIGINAL 5:35 PM REPORT) And we’re happy to be able to share another great photo, an “Easter seal” courtesy of Seal Sitters‘ Robin Lindsey, photographed this morning before the sun went away:
There’s another photo on the Seal Sitters’ “Blubberblog“ – see who the seal shared the raft with for a while.
ORIGINAL 9:56 AM REPORT: Just got note and text from Gary — orcas spotted west of the Alki Point lighthouse, heading “slowly south.” Off to look. 10:20 AM: Orca expert Jeff Hogan just called, says they’re off Lowman. 10:28: You need binoculars to see them – they are by Blake Island and heading south fairly fast. 10:46 AM: They went into the far passage off west Vashon, out of view, but keep an eye out later – Jeff says they’re transients. 11:46 AM: And now they’re heading back north, per commenter Jen – who also just called. Watch the comments; we’re heading back down the hill to look again! 1:35 PM: Just back from whale-watching – you definitely need binoculars – they’re out between WS and Blake Island again, and you can look for a very, very small boat, which is virtually next to them. We just watched them for quite some time from a vantage point near the West Beach Condos west and downhill from Marine View Drive’s north end (map); they did not seem to be going in any particular direction. We’re told that what some describe as “playing” – we saw tail-slapping while watching – could mean they’re feeding. Bottom line, they could be visible off our shore for quite a while. Keep an eye on comments here, and/or on our Facebook thread.
Two wildlife notes: First, as of this writing, no new sightings reported this morning of the gray whale that captivated people along the West Seattle shore (our reports from yesterday are here and here, and a stunning overnight photo from seattlepi.com is here). Susan from Orca Network (which tracks other types of whales too) posted some observations on its condition in this WSB comment. If you see it – please share the news – here’s how. Meantime, Robin from Seal Sitters has published a touching and sad update on the death of “Sea Star,” the nickname given to the harbor seal that turned up on Alki Friday – read it here.
(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!
Thanks to the person who called a little while earlier to say the USS Nimitz (CVN 68) was heading back out of Puget Sound, visible from West Seattle shores. We sent quick word via Twitter and Facebook and rushed down in hopes of a photo – it was too far away when we arrived, but Kyle Braget got the image you see above. After a short visit, Nimitz is heading back south to its current homeport, San Diego (with crew members’ families on board for a “Tiger Cruise”), but will be back here for a longer stay starting in December, when the nuclear-powered carrier returns to Bremerton for maintenance. ADDED 11:16 AM: Two photos from Gary Jones – the second one, explained as being among those watching the Nimitz leave!
ADDED 1:11 PM: Christopher Boffoli shot a bit of video – with a beautiful cloud formation in the frame toward the end:
The fabulous folks at Orca Network had passed along news of a few orcas spotted off Carkeek Park in North Seattle earlier today – and now we’ve just heard from Vanessa at Alki that it looks like they’re off Alki Point/Lighthouse as of a few minutes ago, “heading toward the islands.” Let us know if you see them!
Thanks to Trina for mentioning this on our Facebook wall: The USS Nimitz (CVN 68) is coming to Bremerton tomorrow – just a quick stop to pick up friends/family for a “Tiger Cruise” down to its homeport in San Diego, after a half-year-plus deployment, but this December, it’ll be back for maintenance at Naval Base Kitsap. We haven’t yet nailed down the best time range you’re likely to see the carrier off West Seattle shores, but so far it looks like early-to-mid-morning. (U.S. Navy photo, from Nimitz’s recent visit to Thailand)
| Comments Off on Going boating? Steer clear of seal families – for the pups’ sake