West Seattle, Washington
13 Wednesday
James Bratsanos‘s panorama shows the perfect end to this beautiful day. Looks like a car carrier in his photo. It was a busy day on the water – Chris Frankovich caught US Coast Cuard Cutter Midgett out in the area again:
We reported earlier this week (with more Coast Guard info added the next day) on the Midgett and two other USCG vessels seen off West Seattle, including training close to shore off Alki Beach.
Also today, Jim Borrow spotted the Zhen Hua 28 – covered here as it took those four huge cranes to Tacoma two weeks ago – headed back outbound:
MarineTraffic.com shows it just now exiting the Strait of Juan de Fuca, headed back across the Pacific to Shanghai. At midday today, we were in the Lowman Beach Park area when two more-ordinary container ships passed, southbound and northbound:
The next two days should be even better for water-watching – more sunshine, with highs expected in the 60s tomorrow, maybe even the 70s Monday.
1:14 PM: More sightings at sea – this time, whales! Thanks to Kersti Muul for letting us know that orcas are on the west side of the Sound, passing Blake Island, headed southbound. So if you go look – bring good binoculars.
1:40 PM: In a comment below, Jen says it appears they’re turning west, toward Southworth.
1:10 PM: Thanks to the texter who tipped us about a U.S. Coast Guard vessel close-in off Alki Beach a little while ago. We went over for a photo and discovered it’s with the USCG Aids to Navigation Team (here’s what they do). We have a message out to the USCG in hopes of finding out what it was up to, so close to shore. Also in the area, according to MarineTraffic.com, two other USCG vessels – buoy tender USCGC Henry Blake (which we last mentioned after receiving a photo in 2014) and USCGC Midgett.
ADDED 7:30 PM: Thanks to Anne Noonan for the photo of the Midgett (and the Olympics). Meantime, USCG public affairs is checking on what the ANT crew was doing so close to shore – check back here tomorrow.
ADDED THURSDAY: From the Coast Guard:
Their crew aboard the 55-foot Aids to Navigation Boat (ANB) was training while they were out. The set out a temporary buoy and simulated servicing it, then ran a few engineering drills.
All of the buoys we’re responsible for are on a regular servicing schedule, where Aids to Navigation (ATON) units will pull the buoy out of the water, check the wear on the buoy itself, the chain and the sinker, either a rock or a dor-mor (sinkers are a large cement block the other end of the chain is attached to. A dor-mor is a pyramid shaped piece of cast iron, these are typically used by the ANT teams, while sinkers are used by the cutters) and replace parts as needed.
Regarding a few points in comments:
There are only four small boats in the entire Coast Guard that have names and all are stationed in our district. Those are the 52-foot Motor Life Boats, Triumph II in Ilwaco, Washington, Invincible II in Westport, Intrepid in Charleston, Oregon, and the Victory in Newport. All our other small boats are referred to by length and type (e.g. 29-foot Response Boat-Medium II). So within the service we just refer to the 55’s and either the 55’s or an ANB.
As for the Midgett, it was not on fire … That was just it working. As for what they were doing, the crew recently wrapped up work on one of the main diesel engines and was conducting a sea trial of it.
They were scheduled to be back out today – though we didn’t make it down to the water, so we didn’t see firsthand.
Thanks to Stephen Bergenholtz for the photo. After a couple of people asked us about that yacht while it was hanging around off Alki for a couple hours at midday, we finally got a chance to go look – just in time to see it vanish into the mouth of the Duwamish River, headed back to the yacht-building yard Delta Marine, south of South Park. On MarineTraffic.com, the yacht was identified only as “Delta 45”; we inquired with Delta but haven’t heard back. (MarineTraffic gave its length as 63 meters and that would seem to match this listing.)
12:22 PM: For everyone interested in sights at sea – those four huge cranes headed for the Port of Tacoma are now coming into view from West Seattle. (We’re glimpsing them from west Charlestown hill, looking north.) They’re being carried by the heavy-lift ship Zhen Hua 28 – here’s its position via MarineTraffic.com; here’s the preview we published earlier this week. Updates to come.
12:29 PM: Visible from Alki, too.
12:45 PM: It’s currently pointed more southeast, as if it was headed for Elliott Bay rather than directly south.
12:55 PM: Clearly headed into Elliott Bay. So don’t be looking for it from west-facing WS.
(Added: Photo by David Hutchinson)
1:04 PM: Just called Tara with NW Seaport Alliance. She says the ship turned into Elliott Bay to change pilots.
1:15 PM: Headed west out of the bay now. And if you are waiting along Beach Drive, NB orcas are reported to be in view.
1:35 PM: Southbound, with a good view from west Alki. Should be in view off Beach Drive in a few more minutes.
(Added: Photo by Gary Jones)
1:46 PM: Just passing Alki Point Lighthouse.
From Constellation Park. Listen to the wind. pic.twitter.com/n1lP7XEllG
— West Seattle Blog (@westseattleblog) February 23, 2018
2:05 PM: Now between here and Blake Island. Our in-person tracking ends here. Pic to share? editor@wsb.blackfin.biz – thank you!
(Added: Photo by Mark Dale)
2:35 PM: One last glimpse for us, through the trees, as Zhen Hua 28 passes east Vashon.
(Photo courtesy Northwest Seaport Alliance)
This should be a sight at sea sometime Friday – a big ship carrying four of the biggest container cranes on the West Coast, headed to Tacoma. From the Northwest Seaport Alliance announcement:
Puget Sound Pilots are scheduled to board the Zhen Hua 28, a 761-foot-long heavy-lift ship, early Friday morning in Port Angeles and begin the journey to Tacoma. …
The ship will sit at anchor in Commencement Bay for a day or two before delivering the cranes to Husky Terminal at the northwest end of the Blair Waterway.
The Northwest Seaport Alliance ordered eight new super-post-Panamax cranes from Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries Co. Ltd (ZPMC) in China through a competitive bid process. No container cranes currently are manufactured in the U.S. ZPMC is the largest heavy-duty equipment manufacturer in the world and delivers more than 200 cranes every year around the world, including many seaports in the U.S. The other four cranes will arrive in 2019.
Find out more about the cranes in this NWSA video:
They’ll be 50 feet higher than the biggest ones in the area now, with “an outreach of 24 containers and a lift height of 165 feet above the pier deck.” The Tacoma terminal where they’ll be used is part of an ongoing overhaul project.
2:53 PM: Thanks to Kersti Muul, who pointed out via text that an Orca Network commenter reported orcas off Fay Bainbridge Park on north Bainbridge Island [map] about an hour ago – if they continued southbound, they could end up off West Seattle. Kersti is watching from Constellation Park south of Alki Point and “not seeing anything yet,” but we thought we’d share the potential heads-up. (And whether or not you get to do any whale-watching today, remember The Whale Trail has an event tonight!)
5:21 PM: Now alongside north Vashon, per comments, as dusk approaches.
Thanks to Alki Point photographer Gary Jones for the photo of the Alaska Marine Highway System ferry M/V Kennicott, which is out on sea trials off West Seattle right now. The 20-year-old, 382-foot ferry has been at Vigor on Harbor Island, undergoing maintenance, and is due to go back into service in Alaska before month’s end.
Separate from the Coast Guard response mentioned earlier – it’s an afternoon of wild waves on West Seattle’s western shores:
(WSB photo)
That’s the view looking north from Emma Schmitz Memorial Overlook, across from Me-Kwa-Mooks. Just after high tide (12:12 pm, 11.6 feet), the water was high enough to go over the stairs and walkway below:
(WSB photo)
At Constellation Park, in-car wave-watching was popular:
(WSB photo)
A texted view:
We can’t guarantee the wind will be up too, but the high tides will be much higher next week – “king tide” level – with the Wednesday (January 31st) full moon: 12.6 feet at 5:25 am that day, 12.9 feet at 6:03 am Thursday, 13.0 feet at 6:40 am Friday – that’s the peak.
Depending on the cloud cover, early risers also have the chance to see the lunar eclipse on Wednesday – starting at 3:48 am, according to Space.com. Totality will be from 4:51 am until 6:05 am; moonset is at 7:44 am.
(Photo courtesy Doug B)
We are at Emma Schmitz Memorial Overlook, after numerous reports of a US Coast Guard vessel and helicopter off Beach Drive. Big wind and waves, but the USCG was gone when we arrived, and there has been no SFD rescue dispatch of any kind.
(Texted photo)
We reached the USCG after-hours media number and they tell us they got a report of a paddleboarder in distress and sent crews to check it out but it “was a false alarm.”
(Photo courtesy Doug B)
ADDED 1:16 PM: Multiple readers tell us they tracked the paddleboarder in question and that he made it safely around the point to Alki (photo above), where the water is decidedly calmer.
Around 5 am, we got texts from a few people in southwesternmost West Seattle and beyond – The Arroyos and Shorewood – wondering about what appeared to be a helicopter search/rescue operation involving the U.S. Coast Guard. We couldn’t find out anything at the time, and later tried reaching the USCG by phone with no success, but now this USCG news release is just in, distributed by the King County Sheriff’s Office:
Coast Guard air and boat crews rescued one woman and recovered one man after their 15-foot paddleboat was reportedly beset by weather near Three Tree Point in Burien, Wash., Sunday morning.
An MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew from Air Station Port Angeles and a Station Seattle rescue boat crew aboard a 45-foot Response Boat-Medium responded to the incident and transferred both mariners to local Emergency Medical Service personnel.
Coast Guard Sector Puget Sound watchstanders received initial notification from King County Dispatch at 2:53 a.m., reporting two individuals aboard a paddleboat potentially beset by weather. Sector personnel established communication with the mariners via cell phone and reported hearing a loud scream before losing connection.
Once on scene, the Coast Guard aircrew discovered the capsized vessel near Seahurst Park.
At 4:51 a.m., the aircrew located an unresponsive female in the water and vectored in the boat crew to rescue her. The crew transported her to the Fauntleroy Ferry dock where a local EMS crew was waiting.
At 5:02 a.m., a male was recovered by the helicopter crew and transported to Boeing airfield where he was pronounced dead by a local EMS crew at 5:38 a.m.
The female is reportedly in critical condition and is being treated at Harborview Medical Center hospital.
KCSO is investigating. Sgt. Cindi West says the man who died was from Burien, the woman from Vashon Island.
Thanks to Gary Jones for the photo from Alki Point as the Bremerton-based aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74) headed out, northbound in Puget Sound, late today. According to this post on the Stennis’s website, the vessel and its sailors are headed out for “routine training … scheduled to conduct flight operations, damage control and firefighting training, seamanship training, medical training, and exercises designed to maintain technical and tactical proficiency in a variety of warfare areas.”
(Added: Photo by David Hutchinson – orcas passing cormorants @ Duwamish Head light)
12:41 PM: Thanks for the tip – a couple of Orca Network commenters are reported orcas seen off West Point, across Elliott Bay, described as “drifting southward” as of about 20 minutes ago. So this is early heads-up that they *might* be visible here before long. We’ll be heading out with our binoculars to look.
(Added: Photo by Susan Numbers)
1:31 PM: We looked too soon. Just got a call from Jeff Hogan of Killer Whale Tales that they turned into Elliott Bay and at least half a dozen have just passed Seacrest and are “headed [northeast] toward the Space Needle.”
2 PM They have changed direction and are headed back west toward the mouth of the bay. We have also heard from Donna Sandstrom of The Whale Trail, who is watching from Luna/Anchor Park, while Jeff is with a group at Don Armeni Boat Ramp.
(Added: Photo by Dan Ciske)
3:36 PM: They turned north within the past hour, Dan on Alki tells us. We ourselves caught one glimpse as they headed back out of the bay – and then lost sight.
4:00 PM: Photos added – thanks to everyone who sent them! These were transient orcas, not residents, were told – one major difference is diet; transients eat mammals, too, which means the sea lions we saw in the vicinity were being extra brave and/or foolhardy!
12:21 PM: Thanks to Mark for the photo from Upper Fauntleroy – the sailboats are part of the Three Tree Yacht Club‘s Duwamish Head Race, which started this morning in Des Moines.
(Photo by Gary Jones)
Speaking about points south – Kersti Muul has been keeping us updated on resident orcas (K Pod) seen south of here, heading this way. Orca Network commenters have seen them off north Vashon as of a few minutes ago, still northbound, so if you’re interested in whale watching, you might grab binoculars soon and head to the west-facing West Seattle shore. It’s murky out there but on the other hand, the whales stand out even more against silver water.
By the way, there’s also word a whale was seen in the area a few hours ago – swimmer Melissa was out and said her group thought it might have been a humpback – if you saw that one, let us know!
12:55 PM ORCA UPDATE: Kersti says they are moving fast, now north of Vashon.
1:04 PM: We can see them from north end of Emma Schmitz Overlook, with binoculars.
1:16 PM: Lost track of them and we’re moving on. Some of the racing yachts are still out there, and the weather has cleared somewhat, so it’s a nice view anyway if you want to try your luck.
(Added: Photo by Monica Zaborac)
2:57 PM: Orca Network commenters say the whales are north of West Seattle now – so our viewing time is probably over. Thanks also to Donna Sandstrom of The Whale Trail for calling earlier to be sure we’d heard.
(Photo by John Saalwaechter)
And thanks to those who’ve sent more photos of the sailboats – we’re adding a few more above. Some of them must have had a great view of the whales!
5:50 PM: Thanks to Kersti for posting orca photos in comments – and to Monica Zaborac for e-mailing some, including this one showing the research boat you might have noticed today:
Researcher Mark Sears talked at last month’s Whale Trail gathering about what they do while out with the orcas.
That photo from Washington State Ferries shows WSF boss Amy Scarton christening the newest state ferry, M/V Suquamish, this afternoon at Vigor Industrial on Harbor Island. It’s the fourth Olympic Class ferry, and scheduled to go into service later this year. Before that, you’ll see it out on sea trials starting in a few months. The plan for starters is for it to be on the Mukilteo/Clinton run in the summer and be on maintenance relief for other vessels at other times of the year. The ferry’s name is explained in the announcement: “The Washington State Transportation Commission selected the vessel name in 2016 to honor the Suquamish people, a tribe that has inhabited the central Puget Sound for approximately 10,000 years.”
11:29 AM: If you grab binoculars and head for Constellation Park [map], you just might find Kersti Muul and Jeff Hogan there watching orcas. Kersti has texted us that whales are visible off the north tip of Blake Island, currently “milling,” though they had been observed northbound earlier.
11:47 AM: Jeff confirms that they’re visible from here, between Blake and Bainbridge islands currently.
10:25 AM: Thanks to Alisa and Kersti for the tip – if you look westward across the Sound, you might see orcas. Orca Network had a report of northbound whales headed toward Blake Island, along the west side of Vashon, as of an hour ago. We are at Constellation Park but without binocs. Let us know if you see orcas!
11:15 AM: Update – they were most recently seen passing Restoration Point on Bainbridge Island [map], which means they might be in view looking north from the west end of Alki.
3:25 PM: With less than an hour until nightfall, we don’t know how good the viewing will be, but we’re sharing the news that orcas are headed southbound in our direction, last seen off Bainbridge Island. Kersti Muul sent the tip that they’d been seen from the Shilshole vicinity, and we just checked Orca Network, where a tipster saw them off mid-Bainbridge [map] – closer to that side than this one, so if you go looking, take good binoculars!
4:22 PM: As it gets dark, one Orca Network commenter reports one male orca is visible from Constellation Park (just south of Alki Point), still southbound. Maybe we’ll see whales northbound in the morning! Let us know any time you see one (or more) off West Seattle – text or voice 206-293-6302 – thank you!
The video is from “Diver Laura” James, who continues to experiment with 360-degree video equipment, and shared that clip from one of her most-recent experiments. It was recorded in the Cove 2 area off north/northeast West Seattle.
P.S. If you haven’t viewed 360-degree video before – just “grab” it in the player window while it’s playing, and pull it around to look above, below, behind, around!
UPDATED MONDAY EVENING: If you have trouble with the clip as embedded above, try this version.
(photo by Monica Zaborac)
9:25 AM: Last night people watched southbound resident orcas through sunset … now we are getting reports they are headed this way northbound, likely in view from Fauntleroy “soon.”
9:31 AM: At least one is already reported in view from Emma Schmitz Overlook.
10:08 AM: Thanks to commenters for updates, most recently Peter, who sees “About 6-8 orca heading northbound, mid-channel and spread out, between Blake Island marina and West Seattle.”
2:57 PM: Texters tipped us to Southern Resident Killer Whales heading this way, southbound – Orca Network‘s last report was that some of them were seen as close as West Point on the north side of the entrance to Elliott Bay, so we’re awaiting word of whether they’re visible from this area, and headed downhill with binoculars just in case. Let us know if you see them!
3:46 PM: ON has them off, and much closer to, Bainbridge. We are looking from Constellation Park & not seeing them. (4 mins later … just spotted two along S. Bainbridge!)
(Photo by Monica Zaborac)
4:03 PM: Still visible SB, from Constellation, as they approach north Blake Is. Among those here is Donna Sandstrom from The Whale Trail – her group’s winter gathering for orca updates is tomorrow night (see our calendar).
(Photo by Kersti Muul)
4:17 PM: We have to head back to HQ but as of a few minutes ago there were a few still in view off Blake, still southbound.
6:57 PM: While we were glad to be able to see the whales, we were there only with binoculars, not a camera (our photographer was busy elsewhere), so we are appreciative to receive two photos we’ve just added above.
Thanks to the reader who sent that photo and asked what the crane is doing at Washington State Ferries‘ Fauntleroy dock. We asked WSF, and spokesperson Ian Sterling replied that it’s there for “routine annual maintenance work that we’re doing at a bunch of terminals and it just happens to be Fauntleroy’s turn.” He says the crane is expected to be at Fauntleroy for about a week and a half and its work is not expected to affect dock operations. The WSF website describes the work as “Landing Aid Repairs, Steel Pile in trestle, Hanger Bar Replacement.”
(Added: Photo by Tom Stoner)
After six months away, the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68) arrives home in Bremerton today, and the grouping of Navy vessels rounding south Bainbridge Island and entering Rich Passage, as shown on MarineTraffic.com, indicates it should be visible from here.
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