All about the West Seattle neighborhood around Beach Drive
The Seattle Parks Department is hosting a "family beach safari" on the shores of Mee Kwa Mooks (aka Emma Schmitz Viewpoint) right now. The walks are free and require advanced registration.
It's a great day to explore the beach with a low of minus 3.00 at 11:38 pm today.
The next walk at this park is scheduled on May 20, 2012. You can register for this walk by calling 206-386-4236 or by clicking here.
Just a couple hundred yards off Beach Drive lies one of the best little dives along the entire Alki strip. Locals would reefer to it as a a swim-up bar but most get to it by boat (want more puns?).
Known to most as the Alki Rock Pile, this site also goes by Alki Reef, Jacobson Fishing Reef or Fish Haven (as noted on marine charts). Several popular dive sites on the web incorrectly state that this man-made reef was one of the original 13 artificial reefs created in Puget Sound in the mid 1970's by Washington Dept of Fish and Wildlife. It was actually created in May of 1987 as a "mitigation reef" to offset the ecological damage created when developing the Elliott Bay Marina.
The idea was to carefully construct a reef which would provide an assemblage of economically important fish species similar to, or greater than, the impacted habitat.
A scientific study used to measure the effectiveness of the reef in 1989 described how it was built…
"A total of 181,400 metric tons of quarry rock was used to construct fourteen 41 m· 15 m· 6 m (high) reef structures in a 2.83 ha area during May 1987. This design of a 1:2 ratio of reef material: sand bottom also accommodated the trophic level relationships normally occurring for fishes feeding from reef structures and surrounding natural habitats."
While researching this particular reef on the internet, I found that it has become a reference point for building artificial reefs worldwide.
Today marks the opening day for Ling cod fishing which will attract several boats fishing the reef in May.
Photo credit to zlatcarp Hey baby, last time I seen a mouth like that, it had a hook in it!
Divers get their shot of these lunkers in the 3rd week in May
I'll end this fish story with a great video of a couple of divers that were escorted from Emma Schmitz Viewpoint to the reef by a "true local". Turn up your speakers and enjoy!
Scupper, for Beach Drive Blog
If you have a small floating dock, you may want to double check to make sure it's anchored where it's supposed to be.
This dock appears to be heading north (currently it is just south of Emma Schmitz Memorial View Point).
This is the second submarine we've seen in roughly a week. What was especially interesting about this sighting is that there were about 10 people standing on the sub.
A small crowd gathered on Emma Schmitz Viewpoint to watch a seal pup gather some sun on this lovely Spring evening.
A huge thanks to photographer TonJe' Taylor for sharing her camera battery with me.
Blakely Rock off the northeast of Bainbridge Island is the scene of several public agencies working on polishing their on- shore & near-shore rescue techniques and procedures. Among the participating agencies include the Coast Guard, various city fire departments, police, and the Washington State Fish and Wildlife.
The recent coverage from the Bainbridge Island Review mentioned that this is not the first year for these rescue exercises at Blakely Rock (a popular destination for Puget Sound divers & kayakers at low tide). Corey Williams, technical trainer for Northwest Maritime Rescue was quoted…
“We are going to be running a couple different scenarios based on some search and rescues from last year; panicked swimmers and divers, … A lot of agencies have no problem getting the kayaker out of there, but they don’t know what to do with the kayak,” Williams said. “If they leave it there, will they go through the proper procedures of reporting the kayak?”
Given warmer weather approaching and the popularity of personal sized paddle craft, this is time well spent by these agencies. You never know when one those guys trolling for salmon from a paddle board actually catches something and gets yanked off their boards!
Scupper, for Beach Drive Blog
Thank you to Rayetta for sending us this wonderful photo from the regatta today. Could they have had better weather? I don't think so!
This morning the snow is melting and Beach Drive around Jacobson seems clear, wet and slushy.
What's next? Why strong winds, of course!
Today: Occasional snow and freezing drizzle before 10am, then rain. Snow level 200 feet rising to 3700 feet. High near 40. East northeast wind 6 to 11 mph becoming south southeast. Chance of precipitation is 100%. Little or no ice accumulation expected. Total daytime snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible.
Tonight: Rain. Low around 40. Southeast wind around 16 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%.
Saturday: Showers likely, mainly before 10am. Cloudy, with a high near 46. Windy, with a southwest wind between 21 and 30 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%.
Saturday Night: A 40 percent chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 40. Southwest wind between 11 and 14 mph.
Sunday: Rain. High near 45. South southeast wind around 14 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%
City of Seattle and vincinity:
…WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY IN EFFECT UNTIL 10 AM PST THIS MORNING…
TODAY…OCCASIONAL LIGHT FREEZING DRIZZLE OR SNOW IN THE MORNING…THEN RAIN IN THE AFTERNOON. NO SNOW ACCUMULATION. ADDITIONAL ICE ACCUMULATIONS OF A TENTH OF INCH OR LESS. HIGHS NEAR 40. LIGHT WIND BECOMING SOUTHEAST 10 TO 20 MPH IN THE AFTERNOON.
TONIGHT…BECOMING WINDY…RAIN. LOWS NEAR 40. SOUTHEAST WIND 10 TO 20 MPH BECOMING SOUTH 20 TO 30 MPH WITH GUSTS TO 40 MPH LATE.
SATURDAY…WINDY. RAIN IN THE MORNING…THEN CLOUDY WITH SCATTERED RAIN SHOWERS IN THE AFTERNOON. HIGHS IN THE 40S. SOUTHWEST WIND 20 TO 30 MPH WITH GUSTS TO 40 MPH.
SATURDAY NIGHT…MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF RAIN SHOWERS. LOWS IN THE MID 30S TO LOWER 40S. SOUTH WIND 10 TO 15 MPH.
SUNDAY…RAIN. HIGHS IN THE LOWER TO MID 40S. SOUTHEAST WIND 10 TO 20 MPH.
SUNDAY NIGHT…RAIN. LOWS IN THE MID TO UPPER 30S.
…SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM NOON PST TODAY THROUGH SATURDAY AFTERNOON…
TODAY…NE WIND 5 TO 10 KT…BECOMING SE AND RISING TO 15 TO 25 KT IN THE AFTERNOON. WIND WAVES 1 FT…BUILDING TO 2 TO 4 FT IN THE AFTERNOON. RAIN.
TONIGHT…SE WIND 15 TO 25 KT…BECOMING S 20 TO 30 KT AFTER MIDNIGHT. WIND WAVES 2 TO 5 FT. RAIN.
SAT…SW WIND 20 TO 30 KT. WIND WAVES 3 TO 5 FT. A CHANCE OF RAIN IN THE MORNING…THEN RAIN IN THE AFTERNOON.
SAT NIGHT…S WIND 15 TO 25 KT. WIND WAVES 2 TO 4 FT.
SUN…SE WIND 15 TO 25 KT. WIND WAVES 2 TO 4 FT.
SUN NIGHT…S WIND 15 TO 25 KT. WIND WAVES 2 TO 4 FT.
MON…S WIND 15 TO 25 KT. WIND WAVES 2 TO 4 FT.
Seattle area tides:
Friday, January 20:
- 1:27 pm at 11.4
- 8:42 pm at -1.8
Saturday, January 21:
- 4:30 am at 11.9
- 9:37 am at 7.4
- 2:25 pm at 11.3
- 9:30 pm at -2.0
Sunday, January 22;
- 5:08 am at 12.3
- 10:28 am at 6.9
- 3:20 pm at 11.2
- 10:14 pm at -1.9
Still reading? Here are some photos from a walk Scupper and I took yesterday in the snow along Beach Drive.
![DSC_0007[1]](/images/old/6a00d834522f5769e20168e805f432970c-pi.jpg "DSC_0007[1]")
![DSC_0009[1]](/images/old/6a00d834522f5769e20168e805f4e4970c-pi.jpg "DSC_0009[1]")
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