October, 2024
In the last blog post, you’ll remember that I visited Ala Spit on the east side of the northern end of Whidbey Island, a morning visit at high tide, and then, later in the day, an afternoon visit at low tide.
I then drove back to my campsite. It was still a bit early for my supper so I walked over to West Beach from my campsite, just a five minute walk, really close, for a late afternoon view of the beach and the water there.
When I got there, wow, no one was there! Sure, it’s a Tuesday, and in October, but gosh it was a beautiful day. I expected lots of people here. Here’s a video of the parking lot … it tells the tale! Not one other human being in sight.
The photos below are of the evergreen trees here. They look out over the water/ocean too.
But I was more focused on the beach … and the early evening western sun.
Video below, looking west towards the setting sun, towards Japan and Russia and the Aleutian Islands.
Below is a photo of the north end of this beach from where I stood. That small bit of rock/land near the beach has no name that I know of. But the small island with trees on it just past that rock is “Deception Island”. My understanding is that Captain Vancouver thought he had been “deceived” by that island since it blocked his view to the east (to the right in this photo), blocked his view into “Deception Pass” … hence he thought, without exploring it, that there was no passage back in there to the north end of Puget Sound. He had been “deceived”! Well, no, he just hadn’t done his homework and didn’t do proper exploring and examination and gathering of information. Deception Pass, to the right in this photo, is very much accessible by boat! I’ve been through the pass in my boat a number of times … no deception involved. 🙂
I walked further up the beach … piles of wood from wind and high tides and storms. Still there’s that small rock “island” and then “Deception Island” past it, to the left in the photo below.
And, as I was looking out over the water there, it seemed there was just a tiny bit of movement, just a bit of splashing, more than would be normal with just the water movement on some rockery. It’s in the middle of the photo below. Just a dot.
In the photo below, there’s a rock to the left … then three things to the right … a bird with its long neck … then a rock below the bird, closer to me … and then there’s some critter/creature in the water yet closer to me.
Oh, it’s a harbor seal! Hi friend. 🙂
She’s messing with something (below), don’t know what.
Oops, she then turned her back and dove into the water, a quick deep dive! Even the gull on the left didn’t know what was happening.
Ah, but then … we knew, both the seagull and I knew. That seal had something in her mouth, likely food.
That seagull landed on the water, hoping for a part of the proceeds. But that seal was having none of that … it was hers!
A few moments later, the seal had a huge chunk of fish in her mouth. That seagull just kept on a-wishing.
After chewing up and swallowing the fish she’d caught, that seal leaned over, heading back underwater, and seemed to laugh out loud … ha! I caught a fish, a big fish!
The seagulls always get their share in the end … the remains, the debris. For me, this was such an amazing thing to watch … life on and in the waters here.
I then walked back south along that beach to enjoy this glorious sunset.
The sky and the clouds changed so much, so rapidly. All I could do, all I needed to do, was stand and watch.
And then I walked back to Towhee the Trailer for my supper, a good night’s sleep, and sweet dreams of seagulls and sunsets and of one glorious seal fishing for her supper at Deception Pass.