Saturday, October 16, 2015
Tim had Friday off so we drove to Westport - about 150 miles from our current home. Tim lived there when he first came to Washington State. It's always a great place to visit, full of whimsy, wildlife, salt water and for the past few years, the best fish and chips in Washington.
Page One Two
 
     
   
     
Off we went in the morning mist, aboard the ferry Walla Walla.
   
     
   
     
Rafts of Surf Scoters drifted back and forth as the ferry prepared to depart.
 
     
   
     
The Cormorants don't even bat an eye at people any more. They just wait for the fish.
   
     
   
     
The morning sun lit up the ferry's destination Kingston and the Olympic Mountains.
  
     
   
     
Instead of suffering on the I-5 freeway, this is our road of choice - pretty and peaceful.
 
     
   
     
Frustration: catching a glimpse of a big white heron while whizzing over a bridge with nowhere to stop.
With that yellow bill and black legs, it might be a Great Egret. There were two of them.
 
     
   
     
The Westport Jetty Cats have new feeding stations, to keep them and their food safe.
   
     
   
     
Someone is not impressed, however.


     
   
     
I guess it might be okay in the rain though.
  
     
   
     
Out in Gray's Harbor floated a couple of sharp-looking Common Loons.
 
     
   
     
Here and there, large flocks of tiny birds whizzed around. I'm not sure what these are yet.

     
   
     
We were lucky to see a Brown Pelican at the jetty.
  
     
   
     
Several others cruised around the harbor.
   
     
   
     
'Westport Marina is the largest coastal marina in the Pacific Northwest and home to Washington State's largest charter fishing fleet.'
 
     
   
     
'This full-service Marina offers moorage space for 600 charter, commercial, and sport fishing vessels, plus a wide range of pleasure craft. There are facilities that provide seafood processing at the marina. [ link ]'
    
     
   
     
I took a picture of 'Scooter'. It may or may not be the same Scooter that Tim and I and 2 other couples boarded about 15 years ago in order to watch some whales. We took our place behind the flotilla of big whale-watching ships and headed out of the harbor.

Within a few minutes we noticed black smoke seeping out from the hatch at the back of the boat. With Tim holding the hatch cover open, the Captain fiddled around with the transmission for a while, assuring us it would be fine in a few minutes. It was no good - we drifted along like the Minnow with no power.

One of the big ships on its return voyage kindly chucked us a tow rope and after lugging us along and aiming us at our dock, let go of the rope and left. The boat owner and a couple of men stood on the dock with outstretched arms to cushion our crash landing, I suppose. We didn't see any whales that day, but we sure had a good laugh.
    
     
   
     
Here's the pier/boardwalk which leads out past the breakwater. It's a great place to see birds.

Page One Two

Photo Index