Tag Archives: Whidbey island

Will Anyone Help Me? (Drifting Out to Sea)

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This hydroplane was due to compete at Oak Harbor.  They pulled off the jetty and headed towards the track but, for some reason, they broke down.  They were left drifting just outside the jetty for a while.  The driver climbed out of the cockpit and was left to wait for a tow to come along.  It took a while for a boat to come to their aid.  They weren’t drifting fast but they were slowly heading away from the shore and towards the course.  They were taken care of long before they got anywhere risky, though.

Hydros for Heroes at Oak Harbor

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It’s been a long time since I watched any hydroplane racing.  The Kankakee event in Illinois was a fun one to attend, not least because the constraints of the river meant it was possible to get really close to the action.  Racing is quite popular in the Pacific Northwest and one event was scheduled for Oak Harbor on Whidbey Island.  I decided to head along and see what it was like.

I was quite surprised how easy it was to attend.  I found parking conveniently close and got a waterfront spot to set up with ease.  Plenty of people came and went during the time I was there but it never felt terribly busy.  The racing took place in the harbor and it was a bit distant for all of the spectators.  The good spot to watch from would have been across the harbor but that was within the naval facility so out of bounds for the rest of us.

The course provided for some good angles on the boats as they made the first turn.  The second turn was rather distant.  The PA system was well away from me and the program seemed to be only vaguely related to what was happening so most of the time I was oblivious to the classes that were racing at any one time.  The more powerful boats were staging from the pits near the crowd but many of the smaller boats would appear on course from the marina across the harbor.  I would just watch them going around and try and figure things out from the flags on the course boats.

It was a sunny day so sitting next to the water and watching the occasional race was pleasant.  Not knowing what was going on was a bit harder and the random feeling of when a race would occur left me a bit confused but I got to watch racing and get some photos so hardly a bad was to spend a Sunday afternoon.

Squirrel’s Nibbling Won’t Be Disturbed By Us

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Walking through the woods at Meerkerk Gardens, we came across a tree that had fallen across the trail.  Sitting on the log was a squirrel.  This squirrel was happily munching on its food.  We weren’t going to continue down the trail so were not likely to get in the squirrel’s way but we figured our very arrival would spook it.  We were wrong.  While it was clearly aware we were there, it did not seem to see any need to interrupt lunch just because of us.

Garter Snake

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Strolling along a trail on Whidbey Island I saw a slight movement off to one side.  I stopped to see what it was and it took a moment to realize it was a snake.  I don’t know much about snake species but a conversation with someone later and a look online told us it was a garter snake.  It froze when I saw it so we had a standoff to see who would move first.  Gradually it moved around a bit until I could get the briefest of views of its head.  Having tried to get a picture of it, I left it in peace to do whatever it was doing.

Log Feeding New Life

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I am regularly fascinated by the way in which a fallen tree will be the source of food for new plants.  The decaying wood releases nutrients and provides a great base for the next generation.  Of course, as it decays further, the base may gradually disappear from under them.  In the interim, though, any number of plants will sprout and develop.  I came across one such log in Meerkerk Gardens.  It seemed to be home to any number of new plants (and that ignores the insect species that were, no doubt, hard at work on its surface).

Busy Bees

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The rhododendrons at Meerkerk Gardens weren’t only attracting the people to visit.  It was awash with bees.  The flowers were heaven for these insects and they were on so many of the plants.  The sound of buzzing was a constant accompaniment.  It was also interesting to see the different types of bee.  Some plants had large, fuzzy bees while others had a thinner and shinier species.  Clearly, the bees are very specific about which plant is their favorite.

Meerkerk Gardens

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Spring is a good time for rhododendrons and there are a number of gardens known for their flowering in the Seattle area.  We decided to take a trip to Whidbey Island to visit Meerkerk Gardens.  I hadn’t heard of it before but Nancy had done some research so we gave it a go.  While it was not in full bloom – peak blooming was one to two weeks away – it still was a gorgeous sight.

You can get blasé about the beauty of some places as each next view is as pretty as the preceding one and you have to remind yourself that this is not normal.  It is a peak of color and shape that doesn’t last long and has to be appreciated while it is there.  I lack the vision to come up with a good way of conveying just how pretty it is but I will have to make do with sharing some of the shots I took while strolling around.

Turbulence in the Channel

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When the bridge was built over Deception Pass, it provided a reliable method of crossing off Whidbey Island.  Prior to the bridge, a boat was needed.  I was there on a rough day – the weather was lovely – but the current running through the pass was pretty impressive.  Watching the boats fight it made the flow very apparent.  Closer to the shore, the current would churn up the water to create standing waves a short distance away from the beach.  It looked like the sort of thing that could easily overwhelm a smaller craft if you didn’t know exactly what you were doing.

More FCLP at Coupeville

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My buddy Mark let me know that some more FCLP training was scheduled for Coupeville on a day with a good weather forecast.  Sadly, the wind suggested they would be operating in the opposite direction to that of my last visit (as discussed here and here) but there was the possibility of some morning flying which might mean the sun was on the right side for a while, even if a bit on the tail of the jets.  Unfortunately, the unit didn’t get the memo and they showed up in the middle of the day for the first round of flying so, while the conditions were okay, they were working against us.

Still, there are a lot worse things to do than watch Growlers bouncing through FCLP training.  You can move along the fence line at Coupeville to try and vary the angle, so Mark and I were zipping to and fro in order to try and find something different.  There are some bushes on the field that can be a touch inconvenient when looking to capture the moment of touchdown but a little experimentation and you could get a good result.

The jets appear to come through a tunnel in the trees as they are on final approach and the trees provide a nice backdrop for touchdown.  As they power up and away again, the light angles are most favorable so you can get a few good shots.  However, they end up pretty samey pretty quickly.

We expected a second batch of jets in the early afternoon so headed to the other side.  Here you are a lot further from the runway so the jets on the ground are rather distant and heat haze is a bit of a problem.  We got a few movements and then headed back to a nearby park where the jets tend to turn over the top of you as they enter the downwind.  The light is a bit better here but, again, the shots are pretty repetitive.  The only change is when the jet is done and it climbs straight out cleaning up as it goes.

With a decent amount of shots made, we decided it was time to try our luck elsewhere.  The Growlers would get back to Ault Field pretty quickly but we were going by car so it was a little longer for us.  However, there was much to justify the trip and that will be apparent in some upcoming posts.

The Bridge Over Deception Pass

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Before we knew we were moving to the Pacific Northwest, we took a vacation up here.  Ironically, we did it because it was relatively close and we thought the next move might take us away.  Guess we got that one wrong.  On that trip we jumped between the islands a little and part of that involved driving up Whidbey Island and crossing Deception Pass.  Consequently, this post exists which describes my brief exploration of the bridge as we were passing over it in weather that was a little less than great.

Our recent visit to the Deception Pass State Park allowed us to walk along the beach and up towards the bridge.  This was a different perspective to the previous visit.  The shoreline is quite long and, for a while the bridge does not look that impressive as you are seeing it from quite a distance.  However, as you get closer and start to make out the traffic on the bridge, you get to appreciate how large it is and how high over the water.

Since it is actually two bridges, it lends itself to a panoramic format when you are looking from a distance.  It is only as you get closer to the bridge that you can start to compress the whole thing into something that fits the normal frame a little better.  This was the third leg of a day trip so I was beginning to get a little worn out so I didn’t go and explore all of the possible angles.  I will definitely be back and will try that another time but, given that I still had to walk back to the car, I decided I would save that for another day and focus on the trip home.