West Seattle, Washington
15 Friday
The banners are up for the Seafair Pirates‘ Landing, two weeks from today (July 5th; event details here, including freebies for kids). Further down the beach, we couldn’t get out of the car in time for a full view of that last sunset moment (that’s a picnic-shelter roof in the center of the pic), but it was a beauty:
High tide and sunset were almost concurrent tonight – this table has high tide at 8:56 pm; the sun finished slipping behind the Olympics at 9:01 (by our clock). One more interesting stat (hat tip to The Weatherman, where we found the link) — the “length of visible light” is 17 hours, 20 minutes (scroll down this page to “astronomy” section). And another Alki note – in the WSB Forums, JoB reports seeing a whale (believed to be a humpback) off Alki Point today!
Thanks to Dave Gould for that photo of the last sunset before summer arrives. Solstice is 4:59 pm our time tomorrow. Next photo is more about what you don’t see than what you do see:
That’s the view from the railing to the south of the ramp going down to the Elliott Bay Water Taxi dock downtown, if you didn’t recognize it. The small wooden float at the center with the upside-down boat had two visitors this afternoon while we were waiting to catch the WT home from our City Hall visit — they were gone before we could pull out the cameraphone, but we wanted to mention them: two otters! (Just in case you were still feeling sad about the one killed over here last weekend, looks like they have friends/relatives in the bay; hope the two we saw don’t try crossing Alaskan Way …)
Photos to share, and mention — first, a Father’s Day fireboat display off Beach Drive, photos at BDB. Next: a garden sighting:
As WSB contributing photojournalist Christopher Boffoli observed in the note with that photo, it’s difficult to catch hummingbirds on camera – but he finally “caught” that one. Next – what’s missing in this picture?
Wendy Hughes-Jelen says tai chi is what’s missing – she can’t believe nobody’s doing it at High Point, and she has already gone to great lengths to find someone to launch outdoor sessions by the pond you see in that photo shared by Wendy. Read all about it at her blog, which includes how to reach her if you’d like to get involved with the tai chi quest. Last but not least – a photo Jerry from JetCityOrange actually sent a few days ago:
On Thursday morning, he e-mailed us the photo and this note:
Appeared overnight as one goes from Harbor Ave/Avalon onto either bridge around Nucor. Street art or vandalism? You decide.
Thanks to “Alkiguy” for sharing these photos from low tide at Alki yesterday – lowest of the year (-4.1 per this chart), but today’s low tide is almost as low (-4.0 at 12:39 pm).
Was it tide-related trouble, a resident’s boat, or just a temporary stop? A WSB reader who wishes to be anonymous sent that photo and this question:
I was jogging through Lincoln Park late this afternoon with cameraphone in tote and snapped a pic of a beached sailboat at the south end of the park, toward the ferry terminal. The boat appeared to be anchored in the water on side and tethered to the drift wood from the other. The name of the boat, barely visible in these pics, is “Cheeky Bosom.” I’m 100% serious about that. Anyone know the story of what happened? I didn’t see an owner of the boat anywhere.
(2 more photos added 3:55 pm – scroll down)
11:51 am today was Seattle’s the lowest tide of the year (tomorrow’s almost as low, 12:39 pm; here’s the chart). Here’s a couple of pictures that were taken more or less at the tide’s lowest point today.
From Lowman Beach:
From the bottom of the Water Taxi dock at Seacrest:
ADDED 3:55 PM: Thanks to “K” for e-mailing these photos (and noting “it was great to see everyone out there”):
You know, it’s a lovely day outside FOR FEBRUARY! and the worst part is that the cold temps coincide with the lowest tides of the year (tomorrow’s the lowest – as noted yesterday). Photographer Bob Bollen braved the elements and took some shots at Alki during low tide this morning.
So put on another scarf, stick the coffee in the microwave one more time, and enjoy.
As reported here a few hours ago, we’ve got very low tides at midday all week – bottoming out on Wednesday with the lowest tide of the summer. The field trips weren’t waiting for that – the photo above shows Eastside kids swarming Constellation Park (buses parked nearby bore the names Issaquah, Bellevue, and Newport). We stopped by Lowman Beach, too, where these birds perched on tide-exposed infrastructure for an eagle’s-eye, er, seagulls’-eye view:
(WSB photo taken at Seacrest, May 2007)
If you can get out and get to the beach at midday, this week brings some excellent chances for low-tide walks. Here’s the chart; today the tide bottoms out at 10:19 am at -2.8; tomorrow, 11:04 am, it’s -3.8; then Wednesday, it’s the lowest tide of the summer, -4.1 at 11:51; Thursday is almost as good, -4.0 at 12:39 pm; and Friday it’s -3.4 at 1:38 pm. On Wednesday and Thursday, you’ll even have a chance to consult an expert, as the Seattle Aquarium will have its beach naturalists out at Lincoln Park and Constellation Park (south of Alki Point), 10:30 am-2:30 pm. (But almost any place on the West Seattle shore is a great place to see what is revealed at low tide — our other favorites include Cove Park just north of the Fauntleroy ferry dock and Seacrest, where the pilings beneath the pier host a nice array of starfish and other sea life, as shown in our photo above.)
Hadn’t heard of this till it turned up in tonight’s Orca Network “sightings” e-newsletter (subscribe here) — the state has launched a Flickr page to collect photos illustrating the problems facing Puget Sound, and is inviting contributions. As the intro text on that page aptly puts it, “One of the reasons many donĂ¢â‚¬â„¢t know that Puget SoundĂ¢â‚¬â„¢s health is failing is because we donĂ¢â‚¬â„¢t often see what the problems are. We take its on-the-surface beauty for granted.”
Thanks to Bob Bollen for e-mailing that shot of what appears to have been Coast Guard training off Alki around 9:30 this morning. (The USCG is out in West Seattle waters often, but not always in such colorful fashion.)
You may have heard about this in the citywide media; it’s been mentioned we post about it here, in case the whale wanders past West Seattle shores when it inevitably eventually heads back north: A humpback whale’s been hanging out near south Vashon Island for a few weeks. At least one tv station has video. Best chance to try to get a glimpse of it would be via the Tahlequah-Point Defiance ferry that travels between south Vashon and Tacoma; our favorite way to get there from here is to take the Fauntleroy ferry to (north) Vashon (schedule here) and drive down the island to the Tahlequah dock (schedule here). We usually only take that trip during our annual jaunt to Zoolights at Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium, but might have to go look for the humpback in the next day or two!
Thanks to Amy for sharing that photo (she says that’s an Argosy boat near Blake Island). Tomorrow’s forecast is still described as “mostly cloudy” – but today turned out to be nicer than predicted, so we’ll just wait ‘n’ see. 12:35 AM NOTE: Hmm, didn’t have to wait long. It’s raining now.
Thanks to Susan Stern Grossman from Singingpixel Photography for that photo of the USS Rushmore as it passed West Seattle shores today, headed to Terminal 30 for a history-commemorating event you can read more about here. The Rushmore is one of two Navy ships that will be open for tours 9 am-2 pm tomorrow.
Call it the first semi-official night of summer. Alki was the place to be. A few more pix ahead:Read More
We’ve received more than a few inquiries about this and finally got to check with U.S. Coast Guard Public Affairs: Whatever that helicopter was doing off Alki Point last night, it wasn’t a search/rescue. Possibly training, is the best they could tell us.
One more look back, not just at this past week’s megalow tides, but into history … Susan Grossman of Singingpixel Photography sent that photo of the old Luna Park pilings during one of their low-low-tide appearances. This gives us an excuse to remind low-tide fans to mark the calendar for the first week of June (tide table here), when we will again see this type of low tide (and even lower, with two minus-4 tides, “bottoming out” just before noon on June 4th, with a -4.1).
WSB contributing photojournalist Christopher Boffoli wandered the West Seattle shores during this afternoon’s mega-low tide — lowest of the month — to capture images like those, and a few more you’ll see ahead:Read More
Couldn’t get these in earlier, but any time’s the right time for gorgeous sunset shots. This one above was the Friday night view from Lincoln Park as a kayaker headed north, taken by WSB contributing photojournalist Matt Durham. Below, Robert Stever caught this view looking toward Blake Island and the Olympics earlier in the week:
That’s West Seattle Yacht Club commodore Jim Hanson, showing us the club’s official flag on the bow of his boat “At Ease,” moored at Des Moines Marina, where we talked with him about the club’s open invitation to you to join them for an open house tomorrow night, whether you have a boat or not, and about WSYC activities including their plan to sail in the upcoming Opening Day parade:Read More
We happened to be on the downtown waterfront a little while ago and just had to go over and check out this ship docked at Bell Street Pier, since we didn’t recognize its flag. Turned out to be the Peruvian navy cargo ship “BAP Mollendo.” Capped an international morning for us – we were by Pier 66 because the World Affairs Council across the street had invited us to come chat with a German delegation touring the US to learn more about how “new media” is utilized here. Talking with the trio (from Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk radio, the Leipzig Public Library, and Der Spiegel) after they asked us a bunch of questions about WSB and community-news blogging, we learned: (a) Not many Germans blog, (b) The Internet isn’t a big deal for kids/teens in Germany the way it is for American kids, and (c) Wikipedia is REVERED in Germany — editors have meetups, etc.
From Shannon Felix at Avalon GlassWorks, blown-glass razor clams that she says are the “sleeper hit” of the Shell Show her shop’s having through April. A portion of the $30 price goes to the Seattle chapter of the Surfrider Foundation. Next, the ongoing art of nature itself, shot at Alki by Jessica Seeley (who was there doing legwork for an Alki tour you’ll see on her Seattle Neighborhood Watch blog later this week):
Also from the shore, one more shot of the Corinthian Yacht Club race featured here yesterday – this pic came in tonight from Tracy W, with a Fauntleroy-Vashon-Southworth ferry appearing to mix it up with the sailboats (CYC has now posted race results, BTW):
And finally, we go indoors, for a triumphant shot from Saturday night’s “Blarney Bowl” fundraiser at West Seattle Bowl, put on by Beer Church to raise money for Whisker City (and raise $ they did – more than $6,000, as you can see on their site). The night included the first-ever “Bar Brawl” with local establishments fielding teams for friendly competition; this Beer Church photo shows Beveridge Place Pub proprietor Gary Sink at left congratulating “brawl” winner Dave Montoure of West 5, who’s getting a hug from a member of the BPP staff:
One last photo-related note — this time, about a photo featured here earlier this week: The most-recent WSB picture of the Lincoln Park house with the war-toll sign led to a followup posted tonight on the P-I site, including quotes from the original comments posted here.
Just a few of the sailboats we saw off Alki earlier this morning, as they headed around Alki Point and southward — it’s the Corinthian Yacht Club‘s Pully Point Race (more info here including the list of participating vessels). And thanks to Hopey for sending a different view as the race headed past the Fauntleroy ferry dock:
ADDED 2:20 PM: Hopey caught the racers heading back northbound past Fauntleroy:
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