Squid Season

Squid Caught by Fishermen in a Bucket

The winter months are the time of year when squid make their annual migration to the Straight and waters of Puget Sound to spawn. Drawn to light, whether from boats or piers, schools of squid make their appearance at the surface, most commonly in January, February, and March. Fisherman use this to their advantage to easily catch their calamari. Me, I'd like to go out paddling on a calm night, maybe into the channel near Dana Passage, shine my headlamp onto the water, wait...and see what happens. 

News from the Port of Olympia

There are a lot of goings on at the Port of Olympia these days and a few of them may affect anyone who paddles or rows a human-powered watercraft in southern Budd Inlet.

First of all, the port is still determining the best place to put a refueling station in southern Budd Inlet. I was holding high hopes for the public dock at NorthPoint, near Anthony's Hearthfire, but it seems that the Port is leaning towards Dock A at the end of Swantown's public launch. This surprised me for a number of reasons. One is boat traffic in that area in the summer. I've seen lines of angry boaters waiting to launch or haul their boats out of the water. It can get crazy. Second is the relatively narrow dredged channel at low tides, which happen to occur during the middle of the day during extreme low tides in the summer. Lastly, there is already a large contingent of paddlers and a well-organized rowing club that uses that area. Having additional boats fueling or idling and waiting for fuel dock access sounds like a recipe for an accident to me. You can find out more about the fueling station and provide your input by following this link.

In other news, the Port removed creosote pilings from the western side of Budd Bay recently. Working with a number of partners that included the Squaxin Island Tribe, the Department of Natural Resources, and the South Puget Sound Enhancement Group, the Port hired contractors to clear approximately 400 derelict creosote-treated pilings. Way to get more of those PolyAromatic Hydrocarbons (PAH's)  out of the Sound!

Kitson Boards has announced that after working towards building a reputation around the country, they are going to focus on their home waters with a store front in the Swantown Boatworks building. There hasn't been any activity thus far, but summer's still aways off and having access to the Boatworks dock will be ideal for demoing boards, especially in those protected waters. Welcome Kitson! It'll be good to see more of a paddling presence in that area - let's just watch out for those boaters waiting for their gasoline.

Lastly, the Chowder Challenge is back! Paired with the annual May Boatswap (May 18), it should be a good time. Glad it's back. 

Interactive Swantown Camera

Here it is...a link to Swantown's new interactive camera. It's interesting, fun, and allows you to look and zoom north towards Priest Point Park to look at current conditions. There are still some mysteries, like what happens when more than one person is remotely using the camera and how frequently it's photos are refreshed. But a cool feature nonethelesss.