Archives for May 2012

Don’t Forget the Beach Drive Community Safety Walk on June 1

May 31, 2012 by Leave a Comment

I just confirmed with Mark Solomon with the Seattle Police Department that the Beach Drive Community Safety Walk is still taking place tomorrow night at 6:30pm.  The plan is to "muster at Emma Schmitz Park and canvas a portion of Beach Drive, completing our walk at Me Kwa Mooks Park".  

I'm not sure exactly where at Emma Schmitz this will be commencing, if I find additional information, I will share it with you.

This event is as a result of the tragic unsolved murder of Greggette Guy that took place over two months ago.  

We're hoping for a huge turn-out!  Please spead the word to your Beach Drive neighbors.

Filed Under: Crime, Safety

Luxury Super Yacht Arianna cruising off the shores of Beach Drive

May 30, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Ship

This from Super Yacht Times:

“Delta has launched its latest custom superyacht, Arianna. Designed and engineered by the Delta Design Group, Arianna is the largest all composite 50-meter, full-displacement motor yacht in the world. With more than 780 gross tons ITC, a beam of nearly 34 feet, and over 7,500 square feet of living area Arianna has more interior volume than any other yacht her length. Built to travel and explore, Arianna is capable of transoceanic cruising with fortitude and grace.”

Delta Marine is the same builder of the Laurel.  Order your super yacht today!

Filed Under: Books, Puget Sound Tagged With: , ,

Happening Now in the Sound: Pleasure Craft catching a Tow

May 25, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Looks like a pleasure craft is catching a tow from the Coast Guard (smaller boat in photo) with a Seattle Fire Boat assisting (larger boat).

Boat

This photo, taken by Scupper, was taken when the boats were just north east of Blake Island. The fire boat is already back in Seattle.

Filed Under: Puget Sound

Community Safety Walk on Beach Drive

May 24, 2012 by Leave a Comment

We have been notified by Mark Solomon, Crime Prevention Coordinator for the Seattle Police Department, that a community safety walk has been scheduled for June 1, 2012 at 6:30 pm.

Following the tragic murder of Greggette Guy two months ago, several in the Beach Drive community have been expressing concern about the safety of Emma Schmitz and Mee Kwa Mooks parks in the evening.  This walk is to give us an opportunity to point out areas that could have improved safety.

When and if I have more information from Mark Solomon or any other City officials, I'll let you know.

 

Filed Under: Crime, Safety

Tazi – Beach Drive Blog’s Pet of the Week

May 20, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Tazi

Tazi is a Basenji, the barkless dog, and is the most ancient breed (per Wikipedia). They evolved from wolves and like wolves they rarely make noise as their vocal cords are different from a typical dog.  They can bark but rarely do.  They can run up to 35 miles an hour, one of the fastest of all breeds and Tazi loves to run!  He runs 3 miles a day with his human, Sandi.

You've probably seen him with Pat and Sandi perched from the front porch overlooking Beach Drive.  

Filed Under: Pets Tagged With:

Happy Mothers Day

May 13, 2012 by Leave a Comment

This young Stellar Jay has been following his mother around our courtyard this morning.

Jay

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Low tide neighbors get exposed!

May 7, 2012 by 2 Comments

Two days of low tides offered some great sights along a couple of West Seattle beaches. Starting with the beach off of Emma Schmitz Viewpoint, found this Stingray looking critter on it's back and set him back in the water before the birds made a meal of him!

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then found these gooey looking dudes hanging off a rock about 200 yards out…

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Click here for an album of other photos taken off Beach Drive.

Then it was off to Fauntleroy Cove where I could almost walk straight on the Ferry from the exposed beach under the piers. Great access from Fauntleroy Park located on the north side of the dock…

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Great sculpture of a Raven marking the location of the park

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Tomorrow promises to be another great day to see what's lurking below with a minus tide of -3.3.  Someday I hope to get a glimpse of the famous Spirit Boulder that's been reported to peak it's head out at extreme low tides on the south side of the ferry dock.

Scupper for Beach Drive Blog

Filed Under: Puget Sound, Tides, Wildlife Tagged With:

See Beach Drive and a few of your neighbors on the big screen

May 7, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Ira Finkelstein's Christmas is coming to a theater near you (well, almost near you).  This just in from the Director, Sue Cocoron:

If you want to buy tickets to see Ira Finkelstein’s Christmas on the big screen, THE BOX OFFICE IS NOW OPEN!  Seattle International Film Festival 2012. 

http://www.siff.net/festival/film/detail.aspx?id=45381&FID=254

SIFF Cinema Uptown on May 22nd at 7pm

Everett Performing Arts Center on May 27 at 1pm

AMC Pacific Place 11 on June 9th at  11am

Parts of this movie were filmed at a home located on Beach Drive and along the beachs of Alki. 

Filed Under: Events, Film Tagged With:

Happening Now: Beach Safari at Mee Kwa Mooks

May 6, 2012 by Leave a Comment

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.

Meekwawooks

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.

Filed Under: Parks, Puget Sound Tagged With:

Local dive serves up great seafood and heavy drinkers!

May 1, 2012 by 1 Comment

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.

Mitigation_reef

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.

Linger
Photo credit to zlatcarp Hey baby, last time I seen a mouth like that, it had a hook in it!

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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

Filed Under: Dives, Just for fun, Parks, Puget Sound