West Seattle, Washington

18 Thursday

58℉

Seen at sea 1257 results

Christmas Ship in West Seattle: Back tonight; more Saturday photos
December 13, 2009 3:31 am
|      17 COMMENTS
 |   Holidays | Seen at sea | West Seattle news

Thanks to Michelle Edwards for that photo of the Christmas Ship sailing toward West Seattle at dusk Saturday, before its first stop (at Seacrest – here’s our report on that). After three Saturday stops, it’s back tonight for one more West Seattle stop, Don Armeni Boat Ramp at 7:15 pm. Its second Saturday stop, at Lowman Beach, drew a crowd that stretched out onto the rocky low-tide-exposed shore. Linda Ann Cox, whose snow-dusted photo from last year graced our previews this year, photographed the Lowman visit again last night:

As Linda Ann noted in her e-mail – and as we saw for ourselves – the Lowman Beach visit ended with fireworks (not an official part of the program, but fired in notable quantity from both the north side of the crowd and what looked to be somewhere in the residential area to the south). Even better, though, astro-expert Alice Enevoldsen says there was a meteor show too; she wrote about it on her Alice’s Astro Info website, and included photos – click here to see the tiny dots in the sky, captured by Jason Gift Enevoldsen, and then click here to see a labeled version of the photo. And one more look at the ship itself, which the rest of the year is the Spirit of Seattle, run by Argosy Cruises:

That photo was taken by Ian McKay, who has a few others in a Flickr gallery you can see here. From Lowman, the Christmas Ship and seven accompanying vessels moved on to Alki before returning downtown. Again, it’s at Don Armeni at 7:10 tonight; here’s a map. (Many more holiday events today/tonight – all on the West Seattle Holidays page – we’ll preview some of them later this morning, too.)

Share This

Christmas Ship in West Seattle: 1st of 4 visits this weekend
December 12, 2009 6:28 pm
|      7 COMMENTS
 |   Holidays | Seen at sea | West Seattle news | West Seattle video

(Photo from Jim Edwards)
Less than an hour ago, the Christmas Ship, with Northwest Girlchoir Vivace on board, serenaded a goodnatured crowd along the shore at Seacrest:

It’ll be back later with Canterbury Belles on board, 8:50 pm at Lowman Beach (north of Lincoln Park), 9:40 pm at Alki. No bonfires tonight, because of the ongoing Stage 2 Burn Ban, but warm camaraderie (and the temperature’s higher than the last several nights!). And since Santa is everywhere, it wasn’t surprising that he showed up for the Christmas Ship … with a 2-wheeled “sleigh”:

Friendly Parks Department staffers are at every stop tonight, with free cookies and hot beverages, so be sure to say “hi”:

(That’s Ryan Spencer, assistant coordinator from Delridge Community Center.) If you missed it tonight, the Christmas Ship (and whatever boats decide to tag along) has one more West Seattle stop this season – Don Armeni Boat Ramp tomorrow night at 7:10 pm.

Share This

West Seattle whale-watching: Orcas heading southbound
December 9, 2009 10:31 am
|      17 COMMENTS
 |   Seen at sea | West Seattle news | Wildlife

(Photo by Gary Jones)
ORIGINAL 10:31 AM REPORT: Just got a call from orca expert Jeff Hogan – J-Pod is headed along the West Seattle shore – from south of Alki toward Lincoln Park. Closer in than usual, he says. Off to go have a look! 11:45 AM: No luck for your editor here but Gary Jones saw them – adding his photo in a moment. He counted at least three more in addition to the one shown in the photo. We’ve also got a Twitter report from @senorfrijole that they’re now in the Three Tree Point vicinity south of West Seattle (in addition to an 11:40 comment below that they were south of the Vashon ferry dock.) Keep an eye out later – maybe they’ll head back north. (Our past orca coverage, including stories with video and photos, is archived here, newest to oldest.) 12:23 PM: Good info in the comments, including this from “Cloudbreak“:

There are WAY more than 4 whales in this group. I would say more like 10-20. They were in several large groups circling over by Vashon when I was on the 11:30 ferry headed eastbound from Vashon.

Across the Sound from West Seattle, they were spotted in Kitsap waters over the past few days – here’s coverage of that. ADDED 1:17 PM: WSB contributing journalist Mary Sheely photographed a group of whale-watchers at Lincoln Park a bit earlier:

The woman in blue is a particularly well-known whale-watcher: Donna Sandstrom, who’s been working on The Whale Trail (explained in this WSB story from June). Mary, by the way, says they DID see the orcas — too far for a photo, but not too far for binoculars. ADDED 3:49 PM: KIRO TV has put up its helicopter video of the orcas as they swam near Vashon – see it here. 5:16 PM: As the awesome folks at Orca Network note in comments, please be sure that they get official detailed reports. Let us know fast so we can get the word out to other West Seattleites that the whales are in view again; they work with official whale-trackers for the longterm record. (And if you see orcas OUTSIDE West Seattle waters, let them know too – they track them from all over – be sure to sign up for their newsletter, which is a nightly bulletin usually full of photos and info – orcanetwork.org.)

Share This

West Seattle Yacht Club sails in the Seafair Holiday Cruise
December 7, 2009 1:12 am
|    Comments Off on West Seattle Yacht Club sails in the Seafair Holiday Cruise
 |   Holidays | Seen at sea | West Seattle news

Thanks to Alison Jeffries for sharing the story of the West Seattle Yacht Club’s adventure Sunday in the Seafair Special People’s Holiday Cruise – it’s the area’s biggest parade of decorated boats, whose owners volunteer to take developmentally disabled people along for the cruise of Seattle’s inland waters. Alison says almost 400 boats were in it today, including:

Seven of us from the West Seattle Yacht Club participated today, joining together on one boat, Ohana, owned by Bob & Linda Schrader. Also on board were Joy & Guy Smith (of the Joy Smith Wildlife Raft fame), Kevin and Alison Jeffries and daughter Kirsten (who goes to Denny Middle School). All 7 of us live in West Seattle. We hosted 3 special people and two chaperones from Sunnyside, WA in eastern WA. The special people were delighted by things large and small – a deck of cards, lights on a boat, being on a boat! One of our guests danced and skipped down the dock to the boat as he was so excited! While the event was to create a wonderful experience for the special people, it was truly the 7 of us who had the best experience. Our three special people reminded us of the joy of being on the water in Seattle, and the excitement of small and special moments. I am so thankful to these three for sharing their lives with us today. What a wonderful way to start the holiday season

Here’s a bit of the excitement, followed by the Santa sighting:

We haven’t mentioned the WSYC here in a while, but Alison adds some info for those who haven’t heard of it before:

West Seattle Yacht Club is a low-key, fun group that meets monthly at the Masonic Hall in West Seattle. The club goes on 10-12 cruises a year all around the Sound and spends a lot of time playing and laughing! The club’s members have all kinds of boats – power and sail, large and small. Many members live in West Seattle but some do live outside of our fabulous part of the city. Anyone with a boat can join, dues are low and reciprocal benefits around Puget Sound are fantastic.

More at westseattleyachtclub.com.

Share This

West Seattle scenes: Late-night low tide, stakeout, Stennis
December 3, 2009 3:36 am
|      3 COMMENTS
 |   Seen at sea | West Seattle beaches | West Seattle news

Judging by our early-morning inbox yield, some folks followed up on the recommendation we shared Tuesday from Lura, who sent info about late night low tides continuing the next two nights – David Rosen from SlickPix Photography saw the stars you see above, and the Alki curve you see below:

We also have a bit of video from Alki – WSB contributing reporter Mary Sheely was out with husband Dave Sheely (catch his designs at Urban Craft Uprising this weekend!) and they spotted this camouflaged crab:

Also a photographer’s delight – the full moon that’s just graced us – the prospect of seeing it come up pre-dusk led to this lineup:

Thanks to “westseattledood” for that shot of photographers staked out at the Admiral Way viewpoint last night, awaiting the moonrise over the downtown skyline. Haven’t seen any photos of it yet but we’d love to run one if you have one! Facing the other way, we received a few dusk photos of the USS John C Stennis out and about again – this one from Chris S with the Olympics’ “The Brothers” peaks in the background:

Thanks again to everyone for sharing photos and video – you can send it directly (editor@westseattleblog.com) or also share via Facebook or the West Seattle Blog group on Flickr.

Share This

Followup: Brant return to West Seattle, right on schedule
November 22, 2009 2:54 pm
|      1 COMMENT
 |   Seen at sea | West Seattle news | Wildlife

Alki Point wildlife watcher/writer Guy Smith shares that photo with news of the first brant sighting – just two days after we published his story about the small geese who return to West Seattle waters (and elsewhere in Puget Sound) Thanksgiving week every year (see Guy’s story here). So – just like clockwork, they’re back; Guy photographed these a bit earlier this afternoon.

Share This

West Seattle whale-watching: Orca sightings again today
November 22, 2009 1:27 pm
|      3 COMMENTS
 |   Seen at sea | West Seattle news | Wildlife

Have had a few reports in the past few hours of orcas passing southern West Seattle shores as well as Three Tree Point to the south – so it’s another day worth keeping your binoculars handy! (Here’s our Saturday coverage, photo included.) 3:36 PM: Note the comment a few minutes ago from G. Jones (who took yesterday’s great pic): “Just watched a pod of orcas – at least a dozen heading north past Alki Point over nearer to Bainbridge, now probably about due west of West Point.”

Share This

West Seattle whale-watching: Orca-sighting updates
November 21, 2009 10:44 am
|      6 COMMENTS
 |   Seen at sea | West Seattle news | Wildlife

(Added 1:53 pm – photo by Gary Jones, orca with Alki Point Lighthouse tip in the foreground)
ORIGINAL 10:44 AM REPORT: Just got a text that orcas were spotted off Discovery Park (Magnolia) and heading this way. Off to have a look! 1:23 PM UPDATE: We didn’t see them but we’ve gotten two reports in the last 15 or so minutes that they’re NOW in West Seattle waters – off Alki Point just after 1, then @frewq via Twitter just reported them off Me Kwa Mooks “but not surfacing much.”

Share This

About to arrive, to winter in West Seattle: Thousands of brant
November 20, 2009 9:17 pm
|      10 COMMENTS
 |   Seen at sea | West Seattle news | Wildlife

saturdaybrant.jpg

(February 2008 photo by Jim Clark)

Guy Smith of Alki Point has been watching brant geese come and go since he moved there in 1993. His personal observations together with source data from Ducks Unlimited (DU), Washington Brant Foundation, and Audubon field guides have led to the following story. Guy knows that his perspective is weighted toward Alki Point and he apologizes to those readers whose favorite brant watching beaches are not recognized by name in the story.

By Guy Smith
Special to West Seattle Blog

Sometime during the week of Thanksgiving this year, as happens every year, you should see the first of “our” brant geese return from their nesting grounds in the Arctic. Our brant will winter along Beach Drive, Alki Point, and other West Seattle tidelands before leaving again in May.

During the first week of every May, the bulk of the local brant geese population leaves the western shores of Alki bound for their breeding grounds in the Arctic. They travel with other Pacific brant, or black brant, and are nicknamed for their under-bellies which are noticeably darker than those of their Atlantic brant cousins.

These small tidewater geese of about 3 pounds hang around far past the time when you would expect them to leave, with the weather having been warmish for a long spell. But they have always waited this way.

Read More

Share This

West Seattle scenes: Election Eve; Stennis sails the Sound
November 2, 2009 10:49 pm
|      4 COMMENTS
 |   Seen at sea | West Seattle news | West Seattle politics

The Fauntleroy Way/West Seattle Bridge approach walkover is a must-visit on Election Eve and Election Day morning – if you’re looking for photo ops, anyway. And that’s where we found City Council candidate (and High Point resident) David Ginsberg just before sunset tonight. We’ll check back on sign-wavers at bridge approaches in the morning. Remember to get your ballot in by the end of the day tomorrow – if you have to push up right against the deadline, you can get it to a dropbox by 8 pm (visit the one in Delridge between 3 and 7 and you can check out the Voters’ Open House). [Disclosure: The Ginsberg campaign has a paid political ad on WSB.] Another sight tonight:

J. Leddy got the photo – the 74 is the giveaway as to the carrier – it’s the Bremerton-based John C. Stennis.

Share This

West Seattle sea scene: Fishing with an audience
October 29, 2009 6:07 am
|      2 COMMENTS
 |   Seen at sea | West Seattle news | Wildlife

More photos from Alki’s Guy Smith, watching the purse seiner Quandary fishing off Alki Point Wednesday morning: First, the seal nicknamed “Squint” keeps an eye out from atop the Joy D. Smith Wildlife Raft – Guy says, “A fair amount of chum were caught as a sea lion patrolled just outside the net.” Next, you have to look really closely, but two Western grebes had a close call with the Quandary’s net when it came up apparently empty:

But Guy reports they managed to make a getaway, “awkwardly clambering over the floats at the last second”:

He adds, “A short while later the Quandary was seen miles north, looking for better fishing. In the afternoon, it returned to Alki Point. The Renaissance made a pass by, but didn’t stay.The seiners seldom stay more than 3 days at Alki Point, so the chum run might be about to end for this year.”

Share This

West Seattle scene: Purse-seine chum fishing returns
October 26, 2009 1:20 pm
|      4 COMMENTS
 |   Seen at sea | West Seattle news

Guy Smith – who recently shared the story of the Joy D. Smith Wildlife Raft – sent that photo of the Quandary fishing off Alki Point. We thought the name sounded familiar, and in fact, the WSB archives reveal we published a photo last year too. As WSB’ers enlightened us last year, Quandary is a purse seiner (explained here).

Share This

West Seattle whale watch update: Orcas heading back this way
October 22, 2009 1:32 pm
|      15 COMMENTS
 |   Seen at sea | West Seattle news | Wildlife

This time the call comes from whale expert Jeff Hogan – he says they’re close to shore and they’re heading back north – we also received a Twitter report about half an hour ago re: a sighting at Three Tree Point. Off to the beach! Send pix if you get them! ADDED 3:40 PM: Shaky zoom but we got some :11 into the clip above. Thanks to everyone for sharing sighting info. Here’s channel 4 chopper video:

Also a great link – orca video from a kayak! Thanks to Scott for sharing the link via Twitter – go here.

Share This

West Seattle Whale Watch: 2 West Seattle orca sightings
October 22, 2009 9:19 am
|    Comments Off on West Seattle Whale Watch: 2 West Seattle orca sightings
 |   Seen at sea | West Seattle news | Wildlife

In the WSB Forums, there’s word orcas have just been spotted off Fauntleroy. We retweeted a report much earlier that they’d been seen off Alki Point, but thought it was too late so didn’t mention it here (till now). Get those binoculars!

Share This

West Seattle scene: Rig on the water
October 19, 2009 6:22 pm
|      2 COMMENTS
 |   Seen at sea | West Seattle news

Thanks to Chris for that photo – taken as he spotted it “dropping boulders into the water” off Beach Drive. We’ve had a few other notes about it; Beach Drive Blog posted about it last week, reporting it’s working on rip-rap to strengthen a bulkhead.

Share This

That’s not just any raft — it’s the Joy D. Smith Wildlife Raft
October 18, 2009 5:51 pm
|      9 COMMENTS
 |   Seen at sea | West Seattle news | Wildlife

That photo shared by Greg Whittaker of Alki Kayak Tours earlier this week is one of several we’ve received showing one or more seals on a raft off western Alki. After publishing another one of those photos, we received an unexpected note. Turns out, there’s quite a story behind the raft, and Guy Smith wanted to share it, hoping that when we mention it in the future, we will use its official name: The Joy D. Smith Wildlife Raft. No, it’s not a memorial – instead of in tribute to Joy D. Smith (Guy’s wife), it was meant “for” her – in this photo, she checks it out with its proud builders after they assembled it last year:

Read on for the story, and more photos that Guy shared:Read More

Share This

Followup: Sailboat freed from rocky West Seattle shore
October 15, 2009 4:58 pm
|      5 COMMENTS
 |   Seen at sea | West Seattle news

Update and new photos from David Hutchinson regarding the sailboat situation he reported this morning:

The sailboat grounded yesterday on the rocks south of the Don Armeni boat ramps was successfully refloated a little after 2 PM. The rising tide and the assistance of a number of concerned passers-by who offered their advice, equipment, and a willingness to get personally involved led to this happy outcome. The owner of the boat seemed like a nice young man doing his best in a difficult situation.

Share This

West Seattle scene: Sailboat sideways, on the rocks
October 15, 2009 11:09 am
|      10 COMMENTS
 |   Seen at sea | West Seattle news

Photo and info from David Hutchinson:

Noticed this sailboat aground just south of the Don Armeni boat ramp yesterday afternoon. I think it broke loose from where it was moored during the recent stormy weather. It was still there this morning. The owner was on site trying to free it from the rocks so it could be refloated at high tide (3:32 PM). I believe he was originally contacted by the Coast Guard and he could probably use some assistance if anyone has any expertise in this type of situation.

4:51 PM UPDATE: David sends word (with new photos) that the boat is off the rocks. Posting a separate followup shortly.

Share This

More orca news: New baby! Plus, how to handle sightings
October 14, 2009 5:34 pm
|      1 COMMENT
 |   Seen at sea | Wildlife

(Sunday photo taken from Southworth by Terry Wittman)
So far, we haven’t seen any speculation on the IDs of the orcas who traveled between West Seattle and West Sound shores last Sunday (WSB coverage, with video, here) … so we don’t know if these whales were among them .. but the Orca Network reports today that photos taken the day before, near Port Townsend, reveals 2 orcas accompanying a brand-new baby. See the photos by going here. So far, the baby’s known as L-113, and brings the “southern resident” orca population to 86. Meantime, more news from Orca Network – they shared this photo taken near their south Whidbey Island HQ on Saturday, with info for all orca-watchers:

They forwarded news of a new study that relies on quick reports of sightings – read on:Read More

Share This

West Seattle Whale Watch video: Orcas! Seen from Beach Drive
October 11, 2009 2:32 pm
|      16 COMMENTS
 |   Seen at sea | West Seattle news | Wildlife

ORIGINAL 2:32 PM REPORT: Just got a message from Jeff Hogan – orcas headed northbound, spotted near Southworth (on the ferry run with Fauntleroy). Get those binoculars out! 3:47 PM UPDATE: Just back from Beach Drive, where we caught sight of them from Constellation Park (as did others nearby with binoculars and/or hands-shielding eyes)- they were closer to the Bainbridge side than the West Seattle side. Checking to see if our video came out! 4:09 PM: It did – and we have just added it to this report. A bit shaky/blurry but we were zooming all the way to almost-Bainbridge, and it’s just a standard-issue small handheld. More whales than we thought we were seeing, squinting at the camera in the sunshine! 8:20 PM UPDATE: For a closer look – here are two photos just shared by Terry Wittman, taken from Southworth:

Share This

Good & bad news from Seal Sitters during a still-busy season
October 7, 2009 11:50 am
|    Comments Off on Good & bad news from Seal Sitters during a still-busy season
 |   Seen at sea | West Seattle news | Wildlife

(September photo from Pete R)
Heard this morning from Brenda Peterson of West Seattle-based Seal Sitters: “We’ve had pups almost every day and lost 3 of them, sadly. But we’ve also helped launch a whole new generation of seal pups.” As the Seal Sitters’ site points out, seal pups only have a 50% chance of survival. Go here for their latest updates (with photos!) on the successes as well as the losses. And if you see a pup on a beach, with no Seal Sitter in sight, call 206-905-SEAL.

Share This

West Seattle scenes: Midday music; offshore nap
October 6, 2009 12:40 pm
|      6 COMMENTS
 |   Seen around town | Seen at sea | West Seattle news

Random street musicians aren’t that common a sight in The Junction, so when co-publisher Patrick happened onto this one a little while ago, he snapped a photo. He tried to talk with the guy but reports, “He wouldn’t stop singing!” (’70s and ’60s oldies, at least at the time.) Meantime, Gary J shares this offshore sight, photographed from Alki:

(No need to call about offshore seals, but remember that if you spot one on the beach, Seal Sitters wants to hear from you – contact info at sealsitters.org.) Thanks as always to everyone who shares photos!

Share This

West Seattle weekend scenes: From centennial to cycling
September 28, 2009 3:25 am
|    Comments Off on West Seattle weekend scenes: From centennial to cycling
 |   Seen at sea | West Seattle news | West Seattle religion | WS & Sports

(Photo by Kevin McClintic)
By the time the moon rose toward the end of a beautiful weekend, we’d collected a few more photos to share. First, congratulations to Tibbetts United Methodist Church north of The Junction for its centennial celebration on Sunday:

Pictured above (thanks to Betsy Wharton at Tibbetts for sending photos) are Tibbetts Church members (back row from left) Barbara Benson, Shirley Lindberg, Betsy Wharton, Howard Bogie and (front row from left) Ted Reed – plus (continuing front row) Pat Simpson, Seattle District Superintendent, Pacific Northwest Conference of the United Methodist Church; Grant Hagiya, Bishop, Pacific Northwest Conference of the United Methodist Church; Joanne Carlson Brown, Pastor, Tibbetts United Methodist Church; member Douglas Hom. The celebration included displays like this:

And Betsy sums up the event:

The September 27th Centennial Celebration at Tibbetts United Methodist Church began with an 8:30am coffee hour during which members old and new gathered to greet one another and watch video footage taken 50 years ago during the construction of the Sanctuary that stands today. The Worship Service included music by a large Centennial Choir and the Tibbetts Handbell Choir. United Methodist Bishop Grant Hagiya gave the sermon and Pastor Joanne Carlson Brown greeted former pastors and friends of Tibbetts who had come back for the celebration events.

A big THANK YOU to the West Seattle Community for your support of Tibbetts United Methodist Church, over the last 99 years, during this special Centennial year, and for all the years to come. We’re 100!

Also from Sunday – we got a couple of notes about two big Navy cargo ships seen off West Seattle shores for a while today. JayDee got a photo, too.

After exhaustive online research, absent the ability to get direct info from the U.S. Navy on a Sunday night, we still couldn’t nail down exactly which ships they were; we thought this Snohomish County article about three ships visiting Everett might be a clue, but the photos of those ships don’t resemble this one. We’ll check with the Navy later today. (9:45 AM UPDATE: Thanks to Mark for the answer! He tracks ship traffic with this site, and says they were the Cape Island and Cape Intrepid, both indeed with the Military Sealift Command.)

Last but not least, courtesy of “westseattledood,” a scene from Westcrest Park on Saturday, during the Copper Cross bicycle races that took over the park for most of the day:

Thanks again to everyone who shares photos and info – you can reach us via e-mail, Facebook, Twitter, phone any time.

Share This