Category Archives: Pacific Northwest

Woods Hole Boat Close to Completion

Since I was already in Anacortes, I headed down to the shipyard to see if anything interesting was going on. On my last visit, a ship from Woods Hole was there and got covered in this post. The same ship is still there but now it is nearing completion. The painting is mostly complete (aside from a while in the side of the hull which still needs to be closed up). The propulsion units (not sure whether they are called thrusters or propellers) have been installed.

It looks like it is going to be finished off before too long. I did see it from a different angle, albeit a more obscured by foreground clutter angle so you can get an impression of the size of the ship. When I showed the pictures to Nancy, she commented on how cool it would be to see them move the ship back to the water. This is definitely true although I doubt I will get the chance.

It Will Be Back Before Sunset and the Rain – I Hope

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The day was fast running out and I was thinking about heading for home but one of the two 777X test aircraft out showed signs of heading home to BFI so I figured I would wait around for it. It looked like it would get back before the end of the light with a bit of margin so I decided it was good to wait. I have not shot a 777 landing from this location so wanted to get the shot.

However, while the time was looking good compared to sunset, it was not looking so good when thinking of the weather. There were some dark and stormy clouds off to the southwest and they seemed to be getting closer. As the 777X got to the city, I figured a coat was in order since it looked like the rain might arrive first.

Indeed it did and this brought the light levels way down. As it came down the approach, it was shrouded in rain and made for a less than distinct shape to shoot. Certainly not what I had been hoping for. However, why wait all that time and not take the shots. It touched down in the heavy rain but at least the reduced distance meant things weren’t as obscured. It rolled out and turned off the runway but I decided I was already done and headed to the car and dry warmth.

Lummi Island Ferry

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Having made a return trip to Anacortes to check out the dilapidated ship hills on the shore, I decided to add to my ferry collection. Just beyond Bellingham is an Indian Reservation called the Lummi Nation. Just off the coast is Lummi Island and there is a little car ferry that connects the island to the Nation. The ferry is called the Whatcom Chief and it is operated by the county. It isn’t a big ferry – it looks to hold about 16 cars – but the crossing is not long and they apparently will run extra services to clear a backlog of vehicles if needed beyond the scheduled services.

It was just as windy up at Lummi as it had been in Anacortes but it lacked the sun that I had experienced down there. Rain showers were blowing through periodically and it was a lot less enjoyable to be outside! However, I’d come all that way so I wasn’t going to miss out on the shots. As I mentioned, the ferry is not large and, with the wind whipping up some waves, it was bouncing around as it made the crossing. I guess you want to hose the salt water off your car after a crossing on a day like this since the spray was going across the boat as it pitched and rolled.

There were more cars waiting to make the crossing than there was space for so they squeezed as many as they could onboard and then headed back again. Hopefully they came right back for the remainders but I had got what I needed, had a decent drive home ahead of me and wanted to warm up so it was back in the car for me.

United Max Delivery

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While awaiting the NOAA arrival, I happened to shoot a 737 that was coming directly overhead on its way to SeaTac. I don’t shoot much of these flights but every once in a while, I do like to try and get a symmetrical shot from directly beneath the jet just for the fun of it. As this one came over, I just assumed it was another Alaska 737-900ER since they come in all the time. However, when I looked closely at the shot, I realized it was a United jet and, more importantly, it was actually a Max9. Turns out it was on its delivery flight from Boeing Field so must have only left a few minutes before.

Who Can Identify a Heron?

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Anyone a bird specialist reading this? I saw this heron sitting in the trees along the shore at Camano Island. It didn’t seem in a hurry to go anywhere and wasn’t spooked as I got closer to its perch to get some shots. It was high enough that it didn’t see me as relevant. I have seen Great Blue Herons but this didn’t look like that (it could be and I just didn’t recognize it). If you know what it is, please let me know.

Colorful G650

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A big bizjet is an appealing looking thing to shoot but the unfortunate thing is that they are frequently quite blandly painted. If I owned a $60m jet, I probably wouldn’t want to draw too much attention to myself (other than by owning a $60m jet) so I guess it shouldn’t be such a surprise. However, when one is painted up in a colorful scheme, it is a nice change from the usual.

This G650ER is one I think I have seen before but it was making a trip from Boeing Field to somewhere, probably well within the range capabilities of the aircraft. Given how quickly it got off the ground, I imagine it was not heavily loaded. It taxied up from the south end of the ramp near Modern Aviation and then held for quite a while for arriving traffic and for its airways clearance. When it got on its way, it rotated abeam me which worked out pretty well.

Trumpeter Swans on Fir Island

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The snow geese are a famous visitor to the Skagit area of Washington but they aren’t the only big birds to show up. Trumpeter swans are also a regular visitor and they are even larger. They don’t have the same social gathering approach as the geese so you won’t see them in their thousands. However, they do sometimes travel in smaller groups.

I was driving out towards Fir Island when I passed a bunch of them in a field. They were right next to a church which made for a convenient place to park without being in anyone’s way. They were not far from the parking lot and seemed to be busy feeding. Some immature examples were still showing their grey plumage but were well grown at this point. A little dispute resulted in some noise and flapping of wings but it all settled down quickly when the important matter of eating took over.

NOAA Back In Town

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A couple of years ago, a NOAA Gulfstream was operating in the area for a while and I managed to get some shots of it that were shared in this post. That Gulfstream had a couple of interested radomes fitted. Another part of the NOAA fleet is a WP-3D Orion. It also has some interesting radomes and antennae installed. It is based in Florida – there are usually storms to follow on that side of the country. However, the Pacific has its share of storms too and NOAA studies them as well.

Consequently, NOAA recently deployed the WP-3D to Alaska to pay attention to some weather activity out in the ocean. They staged it through Boeing Field to split the journey up there in two. I was waiting for it when it arrived. The conditions had been pretty overcast but, with a late in the day arrival, the cloud cover was starting to break up and the sun popped out just in time for its arrival. An interesting airframe with a nice color scheme. It headed on the following day but I couldn’t be there for that.

Second Go At Old Ship Hulls

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In this previous post, I had some shots of a ship hull in Anacortes that had become part of a harbor wall. When I showed this to a colleague of mine, he looked at Google Maps and thought there might be one or two more hulls making up the harbor. Once I saw what he was looking at, I could see what he was thinking. I also couldn’t work out why I didn’t go down to take a closer look when I had been there. A return journey seemed in order.

First I checked out the original hull and the one that is in the best condition. It looked more impressive when down on its level. I didn’t see any sign of a name which was a shame. Then I went to see what the other areas were. Sure enough, behind the first hull is a second one. This one is much more broken down but the timbers are still there making up another part of the harbor wall. I then realized that a third hull was part of the harbor which we hadn’t seen from Google. That is because it is a barge hull and so square which meant it wasn’t conspicuous from the aerial photos.

The last hull was located within a shipyard and, since I didn’t have permission to enter their premises, I didn’t go closer to check it out. A look from the access road above it did seem to confirm that it was indeed another hull. I guess whoever created the harbor figured the easiest way to do so was to sink a few derelict hulls and then build up the land around them (or let nature do that for you). I imagine that has been done elsewhere. Not quite the D-Day Mulberries but something similar.

Fauntleroy Terminal

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Continuing my lockdown hobby of checking out ferry services, I took a trip to West Seattle to see the terminal for Washington State Ferries at Fauntleroy. The service here goes to Vashon Island and Southworth – trips that I have yet to make but I would like to go cycling on Vashon at some point so I might get to use it then. I chose a pretty unpleasant day to make my trip there. Winter doesn’t provide reliable weather but the weekend is the only free time so you get what you are given.

The terminal is right next to Lincoln Park. I walked through the park to the water and strolled along the shore. A ferry was heading out at this time and, since the schedule was quite infrequent at that time of day, that was all I got to see move. I walked along the water and back to the road heading down to the terminal itself. It is not much of a terminal to be honest. Some holding lanes for the cars and not a lot else. Compared to the new Mukilteo terminal it is very low key. There is a little public park and beach just below the terminal which I briefly checked out but the increasing intensity of the rain meant I didn’t stay around too long!