Our crews have screened the sand material three times at the Alki volleyball courts with some improvement to the overall quality. In addition to the 150 yards of sand already purchased, we have ordered an additional 80 yards of finer-grade sand materials which is scheduled to be delivered tomorrow, and will be spread on Friday. The volleyball courts will be ready for use this weekend.
WSB’er “d” got the sighting of the day – sharing video of a tide-exposed rock inscribed with 2/5/10 and some words about love and healing. Over by Me-Kwa-Mooks, Lillian spotted what we swear really IS an octopus this time (unlike the misidentified one from last night’s report):
And Gene shared a photo from Alki, showing how it looked when the tide bottomed out this afternoon:
If you have the opportunity to go tidewalking tomorrow (Monday) afternoon, around 2 pm the tide’ll be almost as low as today. After that, your next chance for a minus-two-foot-plus tide will be May 26-29 (here’s the chart). We’ll have -3 tides in mid-June and July, and those’ll be the lowest of the summer.
Thanks to everyone who shared photos from this afternoon’s low tide – tomorrow it’ll be a bit lower, before the tides start edging upward again for the next few weeks. The victorious toddler is courtesy of Jim Clark, who took photos at Lincoln Park and shared a gallery link in the WSB Forums; next, Lisa‘s daughter took a close look at a moon snail at Constellation Park:
(Side note on moon snails – Beach Drive Blog has been tracking someone who gathers large quantities – see the story here.) Finally, at Lowman Beach, Amy spotted this octopus starfish (see comments):
Sunday’s low tide, lowest of the month, is just after 1 pm. (P.S. When tides start getting low again on Memorial Day weekend, it’ll be this year’s first time out for the beach naturalist program run by the Seattle Aquarium [WSB sponsor], including naturalists here in West Seattle – more info here.)
Great tidewalking conditions along Alki at midday today – and the tide will get lower still for the next four days, from a -1.4 today going down to -2.6 on Sunday (per this tide chart).
Here’s hoping Alki isn’t trashed by tomorrow morning the way it was this morning, by several accounts. First, Kristina posted it about it on the WSB Facebook wall; then we discovered Seal Sitters‘ Robin Lindsey had written about it on Blubberblog (with a call for volunteer help) – and before we could get down to Alki to check it out ourselves, David Hutchinson had sent three photos along with this writeup:
Alki Beach, as usual, is a popular destination on sunny weekends like this. It’s a great place for a picnic, a walk, or to just sit on the sand and take in the view. A reoccurring problem during these busy times is the overflow of garbage that tarnishes the experience for visitors and residents alike. Saturday was one of those days and by evening, the garbage cans were overflowing.
David continues:
Throw a few hungry gulls and crows into the mix and you end up with a less than ideal situation. The photos were taken just east of the Alki Bathhouse at about 8:45 Sunday morning. This was despite the fact that there are 2 dumpsters nearby. Unfortunately, people seem unwilling to walk the extra distance to these as both were virtually empty. Seattle Parks & Recreation has installed a number of large, new style garbage containers along the promenade between 59th Ave SW and 64th Ave SW, but these get little use. They have a small “porthole” opening with a stiff rubber hinge that discourages people from using them. Similar scenes were noted at a number of locations up and down the beach.
With the ongoing budget crisis at Parks, there is probably little hope that this situation will dramatically improve in the short term. When you go to the beach for a picnic, it would be a good idea to come prepared by bringing a plastic garbage bag from home. There are 2 green dumpsters just east of the Bathhouse for garbage and 1 blue dumpster west of the Bathhouse for recyclables.
A Parks employee arrived shortly after 9:00 to empty the cans and suggested that if anyone has concerns or suggestions, please send them to Seattle Parks & Recreation. Contact information can be found at www.seattle.gov/parks/contact/default.htm
This also happens to be a weekend between furlough days for Parks, as explained here – but that’s no excuse for people who won’t walk a few extra feet to a trash container, or pack out their own trash if they don’t find anywhere to throw it.
We got a call today from Daniel … who lives just around the corner on the beach close to the lighthouse property. He said a raft had washed up on the beach and wondered if it was ours. We checked there yesterday and didn’t see it. But it is ours. We’ll try to tow it back to our beach tomorrow, weather permitting. We can’t believe our good luck in finding this raft 3 times after the bad luck of losing it 3 times.
Three generations of the Smiths’ family collaborated a year and a half ago to build the raft, whose story you can read here.
(Scroll down for Saturday update – the seal pup didn’t survive)
Alki’s David Hutchinson shares that photo, along with this report:
A Harbor Seal pup “hauled out” before noon today at Alki Beach just east of the Bathhouse. Seal Sitters were on site along with Dan Campau of Seattle Parks & Recreation and set up a safety perimeter. Quite a number of people stopped by to observe and take photos. Robin Lindsey of Seal Sitters said she thought it probably was a late season pup from last September judging by its size. The pup is still on the beach as of 2:55 PM.
4:53 PM: Added a video clip courtesy of Eilene Hutchinson:
Thanks to the Hutchinsons for sharing that sweet sight; you can find out all about seal pups on West Seattle beaches (and what to do if you happen onto one) atsealsitters.org.
2:56 PM: Sad news in comments – David Hutchinson reports the seal pup died early this afternoon. He says more details will be forthcoming on the Seal Sitters’ site at blubberblog.org.
Low tides this time of year aren’t mega-low (here’s the chart) – but low enough to happen onto sights like that one, photographed by Eve at Lincoln Park on Friday. In the note accompanying the photo, she wondered why there’s such a wide color variation among the common sea stars, as demonstrated in these two. We did find at least one scientific paper that suggested an explanation – but perhaps someone with a little more user-friendly marine-biology knowhow has a simpler answer!
(Cameraphone added 5:23 pm, generator truck at Lowman Beach)
Just got word from King County Wastewater Treatment that, as often happens in power outage situations, this one triggered an overflow at the Murray Avenue pump station by Lowman Beach. The county estimates 40,000 gallons of wastewater overflowed for about 15 minutes before they got a portable generator going so the normal pumping could continue. They’ve posted signs on the shore, however, warning of possible contamination. (Added: We talked with Annie Kolb-Nelson at the county; she confirms Lowman still doesn’t have an emergency generator – that’s part of the CSO projects, with a meeting coming up March 29.) Read on for the full news release:Read More
Eric Shalit of Box Turtle Design shared that rather grabby shot of a “slackliner” he encountered today at Alki. So, we asked, how high off the ground was he, and what was the “slackline” tied to? In reply, Eric sent another photo; to see it, click here.
After reading the WSB followup Sunday on Neal Chism, who patrols for trash/debris part of the Duwamish shore near the West Seattle Bridge, Jenshared the photo above, explaining:
This photo shows the garbage (including a syringe/needle) picked up (Sunday) afternoon along a short stretch of West Seattle beach, a couple miles south of the Fauntleroy dock. All of this was picked up in the space of about 350 feet of shoreline. The recent super high tides seem to be bringing lots of trash. Imagine how much trash would be collected off local beaches, if all of us who walk the shoreline picked up the garbage as we walked…
I’ll be taking a bigger trash bag with me (today).
If you have the chance to get out on the beach today – the lowest daytime tide is at 12:34 pm (here’s the monthly chart).
You’ve heard of beached whales, seals, sea lions .. but you don’t see an octopus quite that often. Jana shared that photo after the discovery on a West Seattle beach. Just last weekend, as noted here, the Seattle Aquarium sponsored the Giant Pacific Octopus Census, asking divers off Seacrest and other area spots to count what they saw. The Aquarium also is bringing its volunteer beach naturalists – who are summertime fixtures on West Seattle shores – to the beach south of Alki Point for a nighttime low-tide walk next Friday (1/29), 8-10 pm. More info here, including the link to RSVP.
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:
(September 2007 nighttime photo of beached jelly on Alki)
Thanks to Lura for sharing this info:
I’m not sure how many nature lovers are willing to brave the cold, but tonight and the next two nights have some extreme low tides. The rare clear sky and full moon means that you’ll be able to walk way, way out and see all sorts of nocturnal sea creatures – shrimp, starfish, crabs, clams…
Low tonight is -3.4 at 10:42 pm
Thursday night -3.5 at 11:27 pm, and
Friday night (early Saturday) -3.2 at 12:14.
That’s how Chas Redmond captioned this scene from Alki. (There’s probably also a “different way to stuff the bird” joke lurking in there too.) By the way, the forecast is calling for “more of the same” for the foreseeable future.
Thanks to Morgan Community Association‘s Cindi Barker for that photo, and some info, from last night’s meeting about protecting south West Seattle waters from sewer overflows during major storms. May sound desperately unglamorous, but before you find your favorite beach getting dug up by the chosen project – and/or polluted by an overflow – you might want to have some input into the decisions that have to be made, in a process including last night’s meeting and another one tonight: King County Wastewater Treatment has four options from which to choose for handling what are known as Combined Sewer Overflows. Last night, the open-house-format meeting focused on the Murray basin – waters north and south of Lowman Beach that are affected if the Murray pump area has an overflow; tonight (6:30-8:30 pm, The Hall at Fauntleroy, just drop by during that window), it’ll focus on the Barton basin – affected if there’s an overflow from the Barton pump area (alongside the Fauntleroy ferry dock). Here are the four options for handling the overflows:\
*Increase pumping capacity so EVERYTHING can go to a treatment station (explained here)
*Storage – Build a huge tank to hold onto the overflow till it can be sent through the system post-storm (explained here)
*On-site treatment: Build treatment facilities near the pump station to be put into use when the regular system can’t handle the flow (explained here)
*Reduce flows into the system by working with property owners on measures such as disconnecting roof drains, creating rain gardens and bioswales (explained here)
The county says the average overflow at each of those sites is a million gallons; Murray averages five a year, Barton averages four. The county is taking feedback now and plans to come out with site-specific recommendations early next year. As you can see from the list, the alternatives are dramatically different – drop by tonight’s meeting and find out more about the pros and cons. (Both of these sites, by the way, remain in queue for future pump-station upgrades, beyond the decisions on how to handle the CSOs.)
Just in from the county (you can read more about CSOs here):
Two meetings, sponsored by King County Wastewater Treatment Division, will be held in West Seattle dealing with the the CSO Beach Projects. CSOs or combined sewer overflows occur in older parts of the city during heavy rain events when storm water enters the sewer system. King County is working to reduce the number of occurrences and the amount of CSO volume. Please come to the open house to learn more about the problem and King County’s approach to achieving CSO control in your neighborhood.
Open House for the Morgan Neighborhood
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
6:30-8:30 pm
Kenney Retirement Center, 7125 Fauntleroy Ave SW
Open House for the Fauntleroy Neighborhood
Thursday, October 8, 2009
6:30-8:30 pm
Hall at Fauntleroy, 9131 California Ave SW
(photo by Brenda Peterson) By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
Digging for shellfish at most – if not all – West Seattle beaches is unsafe and unlawful.
Not everyone knows that. It seemed to be news to three men confronted this morning while digging along Beach Drive, before they agreed to put the clams – a cooler full of them, as you see in the photo above — back.
This all began when Brenda Peterson, a West Seattle author and wildlife advocate, was out walking on the beach this morning, as she does most mornings as the founder of Seal Sitters, the local group that watches for baby seals this time of year, and, when one is found, assigns volunteers to guard it from human/animal disturbance till its mom comes back for it.
Peterson spotted three men going back and forth along a sizable stretch of Beach Drive shore, where the tide was somewhat out this morning, digging big holes, and filling a blue and white cooler.
She tried calling wildlife agents and got only voice mail. She also called WSB.
Full story on this coming up later but wanted to post a quick alert now. We were just out covering three men digging clams up along Beach Drive, which is (a) illegal and (b) dangerous – the beaches are closed to shellfish harvesting for health reasons, explained here (and most of it wouldn’t be open anyway – either parkland or private property). Confronted by a local wildlife advocate, they claimed it was for personal use, claimed they had no idea about the health risks etc., and returned the 100-plus clams to the beach. But in case they just packed up and moved somewhere else, be on the lookout – copper/gold Suburban-type SUV with plate starting with 861, blue and white cooler. More later!
Thanks to Tim McMonigle from the West Seattle Soccer Club for spotting news of a big new event headed to West Seattle – Seattle’s wildly popular Sounders FC pro-soccer organization is presenting the first-ever Sounders FC Soccer Beach Blast Tournament on Alki, set for August 23rd. Signups are under way now; here’s where to register and to find out more (note that co-sponsor Super Supplements, which has a West Seattle Junction store, is offering a coupon for discount registration). 2:58 PM NOTE: The fine print says this is for ages 18 and up.
(bees photographed by Rick, who reported them)
First: We’ve received reports this afternoon by phone and e-mail that the water at Alki looks “gross” (among other descriptions). Haven’t been there yet to check firsthand, and can’t find any official reports of a problem – we had a suspected algae bloom on the western West Seattle shores not that long ago, but reports say this is green, not brown. Meantime, from Arbor Heights, a report of a bee swarm near 37th/102nd. Maybe all this has to do with the heat? We’ll be checking … ADDED 6:39 PM: Via Twitter, a diver offers the opinion it’s an algae bloom. We found this state Ecology Department photo from May – sounds like the descriptions we received; here’s general information from People for Puget Sound.
Thanks to Gatewood writer Pam from Nerd’s Eye View for that photo from low tide today (almost as low as yesterday) at Lincoln Park. We also received some great pix from “Admiral Lady” that we didn’t get around to adding yesterday, like this one:
Tomorrow’s low tide is still notably low, if you haven’t had a chance to be tide-walk yet but might get a chance tomorrow – minus 2.9, in the 1 pm hour – here’s a chart.
Thanks to those who shared photos from today’s low tide – and tomorrow will be even lower, the lowest of the summer, minus 3.9 just before noon. The starfish above and the tide explorers below are both courtesy of Amy; the crab is courtesy of Jim. All three photos were taken at Lincoln Park.
If you can make it out to the beach at midday tomorrow, you will find volunteer beach naturalists (here’s Seattle Aquarium info on the program) south of Alki Point and at Lincoln Park south of Colman Pool, from 10 am till 2 pm. P.S. Kevin points out that if you’re on a downtown-facing beach, there’s another sight to see: The cruise ship that’s in port at Pier 66 till Wednesday is The World, which isn’t just a vacation vessel – it actually sells “residences” on board.
Thanks to Tim McMonigle from the 
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