Journey North Says, and Other Updates

Shoutout to @jfleck , who writes about water and climate at the Albuquerque Journal, for this new-to-me visualizer, the WPC Quantitative Precipitation Forecasts. I really shouldn't complain, but it's relentlessly sunny here right now. My inclination is to cower indoors.

Journey North's Gray Whale section says it's "rush hour for moms and babies". Since I'm not going to get out to La Push at a low tide before I have to head for Florida again, that will have to do for whale news. For not-news, look again at the post about seeing a whale on April 21.

Work on the Elwha River's dam removal project is stopped for at least another month while the National Park and the contractors and the city and the tribe and other water users sort out the sad fact that the new water treatment plant and all its intake works were underdesigned and have been overwhelmed by silt and debris coming down the river from behind the former dams. It's more fun to think about the ever-changing re-making of the river itself and the nearshore. Once again Tom Roorda has been way up in the middle of the air looking at it, and sharing what he sees. New land continues to grow on the rez side of the river.

The Elwha River flows into the Strait, May 1. Thank you to Tom Roorda for permission to show this image. (Click for larger image.)

Did I mention the days are long?

Saturday
4 May 2013 Pacific Daylight Time
SUN
Begin civil twilight 5:15 a.m.
Sunrise 5:50 a.m.
Sunset 8:32 p.m.
End civil twilight 9:08 p.m.

It's starting to melt up on Hurricane Ridge, but there's still a lot of snow up there and on into the high country. Will the Obstruction Point Road open for July 4th weekend? Seems unlikely; last year it wasn't open until the middle of August. I stare at the lines on the graph and try to guess.

Snow-Water Equivalent at the Waterhole Snotel, May 4, 2013 (Click for larger image.)

Went to Portland on April 29. The daylight is long, we did it as a day trip. Drive drive drive, lab work, consult clinical trial doctor, drive drive drive some more, back home again. I'm still stable, still in the trial. There was big news for a shipwatcher: Zidell Marine's current barge under construction, which I've been watching month by month from the windows of OHSU, seems to be finished. All fresh paint, and waiting down on the ramp leading into the Willamette River. It's now five days later, but either it hasn't launched yet, or the Portland news sites aren't reporting on her launch. She's not listed yet on the amazingly long list of barges Zidell Yards has built in its various incarnations, presently Zidell Marine.

Zidell Marine's barge ST 23 from the windows of the lab on the 3rd floor of OHSU, April 29, 2013 (Click for larger image.) ...from the windows of the oncology waiting area, 7th floor of OHSU, April 29, 2013 (Click for larger image.)

Whales, Waves, Wading

Charismatic megafauna FTW! Sunday the 21st headed for the outer coast, to look for gray whales at First Beach. There were elk by the highway at Beaver Prairie, but I had rapture-of-the-road and did not stop for a photo, allowed nothing to interfere with my pre-determined program: to get out there and See a Whale.

Out on the point in La Push, there was a woman with binoculars sitting on a log, looking over First Beach. "I don't suppose you've seen any whales," I said. "Oh, yes, right... right there, see it, see the sun gleaming on his wet back??"

Yes YES. I waved my arms in giant semaphore circles, and hooted gleefully: primate greeting cetacean. Woooo!

For the next while, the one gray whale (some of the watchers thought they saw two, close together; in which case it was likely a cow/calf pair) worked the area at the nearby end of First Beach. Watchers arrived, watched. You could tell where the whale had most recently surfaced by seeing which direction the watchers were looking.

Watchers Watching, April 21, 2013 (Click for larger image.)

The sea surface was calm, the tide low; it was gray to the south, more blue to the west.

Sky conditions, First Beach, April 21, 2013 (Click for larger image.)

Here's the thing: you can only see them when they are there. If they are there. There's 19,000 or however many gray whales on the move right now, but to see one from the shore at La Push, there has to BE one hanging around to be seen.

I think it (she?) was feeding, all that back-and-forth, perhaps glimpses of a flipper as she tilted on her side in the low-tide water to scoop up a mouthful of mud and amphipods. Mysterious parts appearing, anyway. Which was always pleasing, but the blows are the best part. Whoosh! There it is, the air that they breathe...

I set the camera on burst and took many many pix of empty ocean right where the whale last was.

Perhaps accidentally a bit of whale. (Found in camera.) April 21,2013 (Click for larger image.)

Then gone, and all the watchers too. Time for part two of the day's plan: wet feet, and a sloshy progress to the south end of the beach to get a photo back towards The School at the Edge of the World, one of my most favorite views on all the earth. Seeing the whales goes better with even a tiny bit of elevation, so I couldn't go down onto the beach itself until the whale was gone.

Oh, did I mention the sea lions? Sea lions working the river (what fish are running?), and intermittently barking up a storm. There were lots of eagles. The truly gigantic piece of driftwood was still there (a year later ), still attracting climbers. (Note the woman on top of the top of the roots, for scale.) The Quileute tribal school presented the hoped-for photo opportunity, blue roof with blue water and blue sky. Towards the southwest, it had gotten very dark, it was plainly pouring rain out there. I was 5-layers-warm on top as I sloshed along inside the edge of the ocean, but my feet were freezing. It was actually warmer in the water than on the sand with wind blowing on wet skin.

Walking First Beach, La Push, April 21, 2013 (Click for larger image.) Water Shoes, April 21, 2013 (Click for larger image.)

On the drive home, the elk were no longer out on Beaver Prairie. It poured down rain twice along the way. Then I was home. Shoutout to IJ and @helgagrace for encouragements, and @vcmcguire for the wet feet.

For Purposes of Record Keeping

The weekend was stormy, but Monday the 8th it was sunny here in town, so off I went to First Beach to look for whales. It was not sunny out there, but blue-y grey. There was mist and a bit of wind and some raindrops, and a certain amount of whitecaps. Had there been any gray whale blows, I'd have had trouble seeing them. So maybe there were there, and maybe not, you know?

No Whales. From the point in La Push overlooking First Beach, April 8, 2013 (Click for larger image.)

Whale Watching Week on the Oregon coast was March 23-30; and the Quileute Tribal School in La Push had its Welcome the Whales Ceremony on Wednesday April 10th, two days after I was out there; so the time could have been right. But it's the mothers and babies who hug the shore at First Beach, and according to the observation sites along the way, the cow/calf pairs have not yet been seen this far north. So perhaps I was too early. Or perhaps this will be the third year in a row that ten thousand or so (or more) gray whales migrate north up the coast and I never see any...

Complete Confusion of Chronology

PG says I must mention that the posts about our vacation days did not appear here in order written, newest on top, but rather were intercalated below carrying the dates they happened. March 21 Shipwatching, March 22 Wings of a Black-Legged Kittiwake, March 23-25 Mostly Being Together With Friends (in Another Country).

Even I can't make sense of what I have done to chronology. It's all because blogs are upside down, yes? I will now complete the disorder with some headline no-longer-news about our last day. On 26 March we went out to the Outer Coast to look for Whales at First Beach. We saw elk on the way, yaay for charismatic megafauna, but no whales at First Beach. The light was flatter than flat, no decent photos. We ate our sandwiches while not seeing the whales, then drove around to Rialto for a little beach time. Beauty, flat light, in truth flat spirits as well. But we were there. As were the elk, still, on the drive home.

Those elk on Beaver Prairie, March 26, 2013 (Click for larger image.)A boat in the channel. Quileute River as seen from the point in La Push where we didn't see whales, March 26, 2013 (Click for larger image.) Rialto Beach in flat light, March 26, 2013 (Click for larger image.)

Seals, Ships, Marina Life, Cetaceans

Also fish, harbors, scenery and map fun. Two days on the good ship Kingfisher (actually that's her brand name, but my host and hostess have not agreed on a name for her) in perfect weather. We zipped across the Strait to Friday Harbor, first circling up the west side of San Juan Island and then east through Speiden Channel around the outside of Henry Island, in hopes of seeing orcas, as the Southern Residents were known to be have been in the neighborhood two days before. No orcas. We moored in Friday Harbor Marina at slip H29 (G and H are the guest moorages).

Friday Harbor, San Juan Island, September 17, 2012 (Click for larger image.)

The good ship Kingfisher (Click for larger image.)

JL and I walked up into town, first to the Whale Museum, then a sidetrip to locate my motel, then souvenir hunting (scored two very nice bookmarks from the bookstore with, yes, orcas on them), then ice cream sitting on a bench overlooking the ferry dock. Ice cream is an obligatory part of being in the Marina. But it was end-of-season, only about a third of the zillions of flavors were available, and one person doing the scooping-up.

Ferry-watching, September 17, 2012 (Click for larger image.)

Also we bought some frozen baitfish to feed to Popeye the harbor seal, who lives in the marina. He was lurking right there by the fish shop on the dock, the better to encourage people to buy him eats.

Feeding Popeye (Click for larger image.)

I've never hung out in a marina before. It is very intimate. When we were cooking our dinner on the stern rail, so were the people in the next boat. Foot traffic constant to and fro, people returning with shopping bags. Before dinner we went back to the store to walk the dog and buy olive oil, which JL had forgotten to pack. People wander up and down the docks examining each other's boats and their accoutrements. Popeye the seal came by. We fed him some of our own baitfish.

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In the morning we retraced our route around the island, except this time we went inside of Henry Island, past Roche Harbor and through Mosquito Channel. There were a bunch of seals hauled out on a small island. These looked to be our only wild marine mammals on this expedition (Popeye doesn't count), so the Captain stopped nearby for a photo opportunity. Once out in Haro Strait there was much shipping channel entertainment, bi-i-ig ships in the morning light. We slowed down for better photos now and again.

The Seals in Mosquito Channel. JL's pic. September 18, 2012 (Click for larger image.)

Big Ships, headed for Vancouver (Click for larger image.)

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We angled far to the west, passing close to Victoria. Our program for the day was to catch salmon in Marine Area 5 where the limit is higher and you can keep wild as well as hatchery salmon. When we arrived off Freshwater Bay, a few miles east of the area line, a circus of whalewatch boats were busily surrounding what seemed like A Great Many transient orcas (now called Bigg's Killer Whales, but even the scientists are having trouble remembering), who were hustling on eastward.

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It was a perfectly gorgeous orca sighting, silhouetted against the Olympics and darn near in our own front yard. According to the Center for Whale Research, "We had 21 transients in the Strait of Juan de Fuca! They were members of T60's, T100's, T137's, T99's, T36's, T37, T37A1, and T2B." Jeanne Hyde blogged the encounter from the point of view of the whale-watch boats, and with great visuals. First Mate JL's visuals also pretty great:

JL's transient orcas (Click for larger image.)

We lingered a while heading eastward with the crowd of boats and whales, then continued west until we were across the Marine Area 5 line. Then we fished. The boat seemed happy to be doing its proper job.

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We caught two coho (silver) salmon right away. First Mate JL kept up the log on the back of the fishing license. Then we had a series of misfires, nibbles and catching tiny little fishes. I took a turn driving the boat. Captain JL asked me to please steer us out of the nursery and back into the bigger fish. I was more concerned to stay in our lane, and not run into any passing big ships. But in fact then we caught our two more fish. "We're done," said the captain, and we headed back to Port Angeles.

Host and hostess, JL & JL. September 17, 2012 (Click for larger image.)

Thank you to JL & JL for an adventure that in multiple ways greatly expanded my map.

Ocean Day, With Sea Lions (No Pix Of)

Took KB right out to Rialto Beach on Friday, she had come all the way from Germany to get to the Real Outside Ocean, and Outside we went. (OK, ok, she also came for the ceremony in Crestone...) Very very satisfying to drive around with her, she rides with a map in her lap, keeping track of where we are and where going.

Rialto Beach, May 18, 2012 (Click for larger image.)

Very little surf, and no birds to speak of (not even gulls and crows, nor even little flitty birds singing in the forest behind the beach). A little wrack, no litter, few people. "This is sure not Florida," I said at a moment when I had settled happily into a bank of pebbles, leaning against a log, watching the occasional through-hiker stomping along, or a bundled-up couple amble by.

Soundscape for Cee, Rialto Beach, May 18, 2012

There was actually one beached bird, KB spotted it. Had we been surveying, it would have been the first reported (dead) bird on the Ellen Creek beach segment since July 10, 2011. Took pictures, will ask JL for i.d. help even though it doesn't count in the scientific record.

Then we went around to La Push, to look for whales from First Beach. Well no, of course, though in theory it is not too late because J.Lee said last weekend she was still seeing them at Davenport, and promised to ask a few to show themselves for me. But there must have been fish moving up the river. Boats were moving in and out from the marina, through the river channel and out to sea; and gulls, and lots of sea lion action. Eagles, many bald eagles, mature and juvenile, sitting around on the snags, in the air, even fishing the river though we never saw one catch anything. Later we had a late lunch in the River's Edge Restaurant, continuing to see sea lions around...

Little surf, no whales. First Beach, May 18, 2012 (Click for larger image.)

Not Always Empty

On Saturday conditions at First Beach were perfect for seeing the grey whales, except for not seeing any. It was blue, and still, and the ocean was nearly flat. I could almost believe that if there had been whales passing by just then, I'd have seen them.

First Beach, with James Island, April 7, 2012 (Click for larger image.)First Beach, Little James Island, the village of La Push (Click for larger image.)

There were lots of people everywhere.

And a perfectly amazing giant piece of drift, which seems to have arrived this winter...

Giant on the Beach, April 7, 2012 (Click for larger image.)

The score remains

Migrating Whales 10,000
Sightings 0

The School at the Edge of the World. (The Quileute Tribal School, in the village of La Push, at First Beach.) (Click for larger image.)

WhaleWatch Score

Here is how it will go for the next couple of months. I will drive out along Lake Crescent. There will be weather of some sort or other, and beauty of some sort or other.

Lake Crescent, March 10, 2012 (Click for larger image.)

This time I stopped at That Photo Stop to take a picture of That Madrone, though I don't usually.

That Madrone, Artfully Posing as a Bonsai (Click for larger image.)

At the Three Rivers store I will reluctantly bypass the righthand fork which leads to happy beach hours at Rialto Beach, and instead take the left-hand fork to La Push, to attempt to see the gray whale migration. Notice the word 'attempt'. It foreshadows. At La Push, I will park overlooking First Beach, and look. If conditions are windy or wet, I will sit in the car and look. On this day, it's obviously going to be impossible to spot whale blows or little bits of whale out there in the surf.

First Beach, March 10, 2012 (Click for larger image.)

(This is another of those don't-usually photos. Usually I show the beautiful horizon, mostly. It's all I see, wherever I am. Here, however, is the portable whale-watch blind. It doubles as lunchroom, reading room, and wind shelter:

Portable Whale-watch Station (Click for larger image.)

The weather will be variable. On this day, it almost cleared once or twice, then there were more rainshowers. The wind was steady.

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Boats may go in and out through the river mouth, depending. In this case, two Coast Guard Boats bounced on out into a rainshower and disappeared, then later came back in.

Coast Guard boats approaching the river mouth (Click for larger image.)Coast Guard boats in the channel (Click for larger image.)

I may see eagles. (Had a very nice eagle sighting on Saturday.) Driving along the highway, every time I approach a place where I have seen elk in the past, I will call them. (Am I going to confess to going, "He-e-e-re, elky elky elky," as I come around a curve? Not hardly. But it worked for JK and me in the dark last week.)

Other watchers will report success, yesterday or this morning or last Thursday. But the whales go into stealth mode when I am nearby, and for the next two months, weekend after weekend, my score will be something on the order of

Migrating Whales 10,000
Sightings 0