State Parks bet on Tillicum Village

April 1, 2024 by Leave a Comment

A new tenant for the iconic Native American styled “village” on Blake Island has signed a multi-year lease to renovate and expand the existing vacated buildings near the state park’s marina. 

Big Fin Casinos Inc., a Klallam tribal consortium based in Tacoma is planning on keeping the nearly 60-year-old iconic name “Tillicum Village” for it’s new resort project. The onset of COVID-19 marked the end of Argosy Cruises long run of island excursions which officially ended with an announcement on December 13th 2021 with the Washington State Parks & Recreation Commission.

Billy Trimble, Project Manager for BFC, recently responded to the News Tribune “We have an agreement with the State to keep our Tillicum venue harmonious with the State Parks natural setting. This property is exclusively designed to accommodate clientele that values recreational gambling in a non-smoking and slots free environment. This is exclusively a card and dice establishment. No one needs to be concerned about multi-level flashy signage or loud Leonard Skynyrd tribute bands …. think more Blue Oyster Cult-ish acoustic type concerts.” He went on to say he was “absolutely elated of the amount of progress being made to meet our June 3rd grand opening. Nearly all 8 units reserved for our Whale level clientele are in final stages of construction and the dock renovations are well underway.”

Transportation to and from Tillicum Casino will initially be operated by TUG (Tribal Union Gill-netter Association) located at Port of Tacoma’s pier on Dock Street. Future plans include whale watching excursions to and from Blake Island when Orca are in the vicinity.

Before you plan to drum up the courage to bet the entire tent or boat on a solid blackjack hand, know that this small scale Tillicum resort is exclusively reserved for Big Fin patrons. Will the powers-to-be eventually open the village up to the general boating and camping public? I wouldn’t bet on it.

Scupper reporting for BDB

 

Filed Under: Just for fun, Not on Beach Drive, Scupper Tagged With: ,

It’s Seattle’s Fault

April 1, 2023 by Leave a Comment

Well actually, it’s the Seattle fault-line that has attracted all the recent research vessels off of Beach Drive lately. Both the UW and NOAA have been busy documenting the increasing number of methane plumes in this area.

“Several more fissures and severe uplifting have occurred since inadvertently discovering large plumes of methane bubbles in 2011”, according to UW’s Professor of Seismology Roy Hinkley.

An early study suggested that the bubbles in Puget Sound might be coming up from this underlying subduction zone. In mapping these plumes, it became clear that large numbers that were aligned along geologic fault zones known as the Seattle, Tacoma and South Whidbey faults. But the greatest number of plumes occurred where the faults intersects, such as off Alki Point in West Seattle.

Most recently, research vessels using remotely operated vehicles have discovered dramatic uplifting formations along the southern edge of the Seattle Faultline which runs roughly from Emma Schmitz View Point to Restoration Point on Bainbridge Island.

A Seattle based spokesperson for NOAA, Natalie Schafer, said that NOAA is busy surveying seafloor depths and updating NOAA marine charts. “At the rate of subduction uplifting, we may see small islets formations cropping up between Blakely Rock and Alki Point in the next 20 years”.

The most recently updated NOAA chart now reveals the budding islands.

Depths shown in feet.

Move over, Blake Island! You’ll have company soon.

Scupper, reporting for BDB.

Filed Under: Boats, Just for fun, Puget Sound, Scupper

Port Approves Waters off Beach Drive for Commercial Anchorage

April 1, 2022 by 4 Comments

Update: April 2nd
This April 1st post is quickly developing as Beach Drive residents stormed the port offices last night and negotiated to replace proposed freighter/cargo anchorages with underwater cradles for our submarine fleet. Crisis averted; future views restored!

Scupper

The comment period regarding commercial shipping being allowed to use waters off West Seattle’s Beach Drive for temporary anchorages ended on March 31st. A port spokesperson stated that the additional “temporary” anchorages will go a long ways to solve our regional supply chain issues “the port’s current overflow anchorage in Manchester WA has helped alleviate our additional needs in a robust economy but is not nearly enough to satisfy the pandemic caused surplus of inbound shipping”. He went on the say that ships bound for our waters are having to wait off our coast for up to two weeks before port and anchorage capacity is available causing fears of environmental disaster as seasonal weather systems can jeopardize safety at sea.

The approved plan is to immediately provide four cargo/container ship anchorages between the Fauntleroy ferry terminal to the south and roughly Alki Point to the north. Anticipated need is predicted though the first half of 2023 but the permit is valid through 2025.

The Port together with the CG will closely monitor the anchorage and has made the following assurances:

• When ships are fueled, all operations must be encircled by a boom
• Ships may not dump grey water. — from activities like laundry, dishwashing and bathing — or blackwater, from toilets. They’re required to dump it after they reach shore.
• A Coast Guard radar tracks when a vessel moves beyond its swing circle, and an alarm sounds.

Other concerns voiced by Beach Drive residents that were addressed:

While anchored, ships must keep their deck lights on high enough that crew members can move about safely, said CG Cmdr. Bill Bligh, chief of prevention. They need to run generators for power, but are encouraged not to slam hatches or grind metal, particularly after 8 p.m. “although nothing specifies exactly how bright or loud they can be”.

Beach Drive Blog will update this post as information becomes available.

Scupper, reporting for the BDB

Filed Under: Boats, Just for fun, Scupper

Eggcellent Biomass

April 22, 2020 by Leave a Comment
A Fish & Wildlife worker was seen wading into Beach Drive waters yesterday following the movements from the huge flock of Bonaparte’s gulls. He was using a small rake to sample the extent of the rare herring spawn we experienced along the shoreline a few days back. According to an excellent article from the Kitsap Sun, this type of sampling is used to measure the metric tons of biomass (herring eggs) left behind.
Some long term Beach Drive residents that have fished these local water for over 40 years could not recall ever seeing a herring spawn here. From a wider Puget Sound perspective, 2020 may prove to be the largest spawning season on record. Observers north of Bainbridge in Agate Passage spoke to some old timers for their insights
Oleyar said he’s spoken to tribal members who haven’t seen an event of this size: “Some of them have lived here for 60 years or more and they haven’t seen this before. This is pretty historic.”
For the remaining eggs that survive, let’s cross our fingers for a return visit in about 3 years or so.
Scupper, reporting for the BDB
Filed Under: Puget Sound, Scupper, Wildlife Tagged With: , , , ,

Lowest Tides of the year & Starfish sightings

June 14, 2018 by Leave a Comment

Tomorrow’s -3.7 tide represents the lowest of the year & gives beach combers a good opportunity to see how the starfish recovery is going. Sea star Waisting Desease nearly wiped out our entire local populations starting back in 2013.

I spoke to a neighbor that had walked a few blocks of low tide shoreline along Beach Drive today. She mentioned only seeing 3 starfish clinging some of the larger rocks but was happy to report that they were making a big comeback just north of Seattle along Discovery Park. She went on to say that “biologists were stunned how fast the recovery was coming along”.

While scientists claim we’re not out of the woods yet in the Salish Sea, they’re optimistic that we’re near the end of the epidemic.

 

Scupper, reporting for Beach Drive Blog

Filed Under: Puget Sound, Scupper, Tides

Buddhist ritual helps crabbing in Area 10

June 6, 2018 by 1 Comment

Although I’m not quite sure what the karma penalties would be for catching one of the dungy’s, it was a great sight to see this Taiwanese family repatriating 30 large crabs into Puget Sound.

The grandfather and father of the newborn (on left with mother) carefully remove bands from the claws before releasing the 30 crabs purchased from a local market.

This Buddhist ritual is meant to give good health and wellbeing to the newly born child and create harmony with nature. Pretty cool!

 

Scupper, reporting for Beach Drive Blog

Filed Under: Misc., Parks, People, Puget Sound, Scupper, Wildlife Tagged With: ,

FOUND Tomatoes & expertise on Beach Drive

April 30, 2018 by Leave a Comment

With the tease of warmer weather on the way, I imagine many Beach Drive area neighbors have tomatoes on the brain. I’m usually too late to the party and end up choosing from the picked over scrawny or wounded plants at the local nursery. Other years I’ve resorted to picking a few plants up from a big box store and wondering what type of “unfriendly” processes might’ve been used to create this mass produced Early Girl??

With that in mind, I stumbled into tomato paradise during a dog walk to Lincoln Park yesterday.

I figured this sign on the 6500 block of Beach Drive was leading the way down a driveway to a few card tables of plants. Boy was I wrong. Instead I found a couple of people working around a small green house with raised beds and several varieties of toms spread out along the garden. A polite young man greeted me and asked if he could Answer any questions I may have. I’m pretty sure he could sense that I was a tomato novice with the questions I asked… “do you have anything that thrives near water in a, um, medium large like pot about so big?”. Kyle didn’t miss a beat and grabbed a tom labeled Hot Tub. He explained that it accidentally sprouted on the west side of their house near their hot tub by the water and absolutely thrived. “Ok, I’ll take that one and also looking for a good tomato for salads?”. Kyle picked a yellow variety and explained that it retains it’s moisture better than most so it won’t mush out on your greens. He then went on to pick another variety that works perfect on a piece of bruschetta with mozzarella and olive oil… SOLD! Then came the detailed instructions in how deep to plant, prune, and size of planter/hog wire to use for stabilizing each plant for it’s anticipated size.

As was walking home with the plants, a neighbor down the block saw me and said “ah, looks like you’ve been by Kyle’s!”.

                             Kyle working on his many different varieties of tomato starters

Ok, so maybe I’m the last to know about Kyle Winslow’s Nightshade Nursery on Beach Drive. Just in case I’m not, this young man is a great source for answering any questions you may have for what toms to plant this year … and send you off with a few plants to put in the ground!

 

Scupper, reporting for Beach Drive Blog

Filed Under: Garden, In the Garden, People, Scupper Tagged With: ,

There’s black gold in them thar hills!

April 1, 2017 by Leave a Comment

A local neighbor proudly shows off what his truffle snoot’n dog dug up in one of Beach Drive’s parks.


As I was on my routine dog walk (on leash w/ doo bags), a long time resident and park steward stopped me to show the latest treasure unearthed by his Golden Retriever. Apparently this isn’t the first truffle sniffed out of the woods. Rescued at 2 years old, the golden was rumored to have had truffle training before his previous owners had to give him up. Before writing this post, I was sworn to secrecy as to the exact location of the digs but guarantee to have MY dog in truffle school immediately!

Image result for australian black truffle

Bon Appetite,

Scupper, reporting for Beach Drive Blog

Filed Under: Food and Drink, Just for fun, Pets, Scupper

Beach Drive short term rental properties under direct fire (opinion)

June 3, 2016 by 6 Comments

Representation of known short term rental units in Seattle

More like a scattered shot gun approach if you ask me. The Seattle Mayor & esteemed Council members are set to propose strict regs on ALL short term (under 30 days) rental properties in the entire city. That of course includes all of West Seattle and the handful of units on Beach Drive which yours truly just went live with in May. 

The purpose and intention of the proposed legislation is to discourage homeowners with non-owner occupied properties to choose housing out of town tourists over more permanent long term renters. If it all goes as planned, the Council predicts there will be 300 new long term rental units on the market.  They stop short on claiming they’ll be “affordable” but that’s what they really want, and frankly should want.

Councilmember Tim Burgess that chairs Affordable Housing prides himself on using “smart policies and evidence-based solutions”. Really?

From personal experience, the few guests we have hosted so far have either had family living in West Seattle, were referred by neighbors that don’t have enough space for out of town relatives, a family from Minnesota that drove up from Portland to hang out and see a Twins game at Safeco Field, and a local West Seattle resident celebrating a landmark birthday with her out of area friends as a stay-cation. What they all had in common is…

  • They did not want to rent a hotel downtown and fight traffic and parking.
  • They did not want to stay in the basement of someone’s primary residence.
  • They all wanted a private waterfront home all to themselves which is not available anywhere commercially in the city.
  • They all spent a majority of time & money hanging out in West Seattle.

Other than required licensing, the Council is not going to hinder homeowners that are using their primary residence for housing STR guests. The idea is that this segment of the market is merely trying to make ends meet and subjecting them to the proposed regs wouldn’t result in additional permanent units anyhow. Well, the only 2 homeowners I know around here using their primary residence as a STR have entire apartment units on their lower floor and choose short term rather than permanent renters. Not trying to pull them into the crab boil as well but it probably won’t be long before the City sics their proposed staff of STR inspector goons on them as well!

Now we need to make a decision what to do with our house next door if the legislation passes through as proposed. Rent it out on a permanent basis? No, we also like the flexibility of using it for ourselves, family & friends. Sell it? Maybe some years down the road. Bottom line is that the City of Seattle will miss out on any further taxes & licensing fees we generate and West Seattle establishments will lose some year around tourism dollars. It’s just too much work & expense to run a STR like ours for the proposed limit of 90 days a year when the break even point is more like around 160 days.

 

WShotel

West Seattle’s one and only hotel/motel

I’m not saying a problem doesn’t exist in other parts of the city. All of Burgess’s example’s of why short term rentals are cheating permanent locals from finding affordable housing border downtown Seattle. He claims extreme abuses of entire apartment/condo floors being held out for STR to tourists. We’ve recently learned that “entrepreneurs” are actually renting out permanent apartment space and then jacking the rent to STR guests all with 100% approval of the building’s management team (also receiving a cut, of course). I also wouldn’t be surprised if abuses are taking place with the recent high density rezoning and micro housing attended for gram & gramps or permanent local renters.

Seems to me that the Council and Mayor should be targeting those abuses rather than ma & pa on Beach Drive.

 

Scupper, reporting/ranting for Beach Drive Blog

Filed Under: Beach Drive Homes, Current Affairs, In the News, Opinion, Politics, Rants and Raves, Scupper, Vacation

Scupper on the trail of the Polar Pioneer oil rig

May 14, 2015 by Leave a Comment

Our intrepid reporter, Scupper, Captain of S/V Pointless, is currently on trail of the Polar Pioneer.

oil platform

Shell’s controversial oil rig is en route to Terminal 5 in West Seattle.

Stay tuned for more pictures from Captain Scupper as I will continue to update this post with photos as I receive them.

UPDATE 2:28 PM:  You can barely see West Seattle in the background as the Polar Pioneer makes her way closer to Terminal 5.

oil west seattle

Captain Scupper says, “There goes the neighborhood.”

UPDATE 2:39 PM:

Captain Scupper of S/V Pointless has just sent in this picture of the Polar Pioneer with Seattle in the distance.

oil seattle

Along with this close up photo taken of the oil rig from the deck of Pointless.

oil_term

Captain Scupper does not see any kayakers from Portland…yet…

UPDATE 2:47 PM:

Captain Scupper has just sent a bunch more photos… they are all starting to look the same to me. Here’s a nice one of the Polar Pioneer posing in front of the Seattle skyline.

oil rig stadium‘

UPDATE 3:05 PM:

Captain Scupper thinks he heard over the VHF that the Polar Pioneer is going to start drilling at this spot in Elliott Bay!

oil drill

 

Filed Under: Not on Beach Drive, Puget Sound, Scupper Tagged With: , ,
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