West Seattle, Washington
16 Sunday
Those colors on Harbor Ave keep brightening …
The migratory waterfowl are returning; here are scoters spotted off the Fauntleroy ferry dock, first swimming toward the ferry, then ducking when its engines revved…
Also from the dock (and from a distance), a loon!
Today was Seattle’s last multi-cruise-ship day of the season, according to the Cruise Seattle schedule; from the north-facing WS shore, we caught Royal Caribbean’s Serenade of the Seas and Celebrity’s Mercury heading out together about an hour ago:
From hereon out, Mercury is the only cruise ship expected to be seen here again before next spring; between now and November 4th, it will travel Elliott Bay (can’t miss the distinctive “X” funnel) every few days as it comes and goes on short jaunts through WA and BC waters.
Or anyplace you have a view of the Sound from west-facing West Seattle … a bunch of military ships are going by right now (Navy, Coast Guard), we believe as part of the Seafair fleet parade, heading south past north Vashon. 12:45 PM UPDATE, ADDING PHOTOS: They just went back the other way, to dock near downtown. Here are a couple shots we got from Marine View Drive.
Seen from Don Armeni through the late-afternoon rain: Orient Overseas Container Line’s Shanghai, dock-bound, and NCL’s Norwegian Pearl, Alaska-bound:
If you didn’t see them sail in, go down to our north- or northeast-facing waterfront late this afternoon and you can see them sail out: 
First day of the regular weekly cruise-ship visits. Every Saturday starting today, it’s Seattle-based Holland America Line’s Oosterdam (left) and Princess Cruises’ Golden Princess at Terminal 30, Norwegian Cruise Line’s Norwegian Star at Pier 66. Within two weeks, the rest of the “fleet” will be here too — two ships on Fridays and three on Sundays (full schedule here).
This is the usual greeting over the loudspeaker from the Christmas Ship as it arrives at one of its stops, blazing with light, serenading everyone on shore with live Christmas songs from performers on board. And this is the big weekend for our part of town. Here’s hoping the weather won’t be too bad. First, on Saturday, the Christmas Ship (and whichever boats choose to accompany it) will pull up to Seacrest Pier at 5:15 pm, with Northwest Girlchoir Vivace performing. Then it goes back downtown to swap out choirs; with the Vashon Island Chorale on board, it’ll visit Lowman Beach at 8:50 pm Saturday, and then sail back along West Seattle’s west-facing shoreline, to reach Alki Beach for a stop at 9:40. All three of those stops are supposed to have bonfires, by the way. If you can’t catch the Christmas Ship on Saturday, it will make one more WS stop — Sunday, 7:10 pm, Don Armeni, also with a bonfire. The full schedule is linked from our WS Holiday Stuff page, as are other holiday activities in WS this weekend, including tonight’s tree lighting @ Our Lady of Guadalupe. (We’ll be out tree-shopping too, and planning to post a price-check here at some point!)
| 8 COMMENTS