Diario de agnes_clamfanger

In case anyone reads these things, I did not bail! I've had some things that I've been taking care of. Will be back in the water and posting again very soon!

When they leave, they really seem to leave all at once. So I am revising my previous estimate for the date by which most (potentially all) sea lions depart the Puget Sound, and putting it about May 22. Which also happens to be my birthday. The Puget Sound being emptied of its greatest source of hilariousness is a pretty crap birthday present, wake me when it's September :(

I was last in the water just over a week ago, and everything was brown. Serious algae bloom, probably the worst viz I've ever seen. Since then, we've had a solid week of unseasonably warm and sunny weather, so I'd imagine the conditions underwater have probably not improved, hence the unusual amount of time I've been dry.

On Sunday the 5th, a gray whale died on the mud flats of a beach only a few miles from my home. I wasn't able to get out to have a look until the evening of Tuesday the 7th. It was high tide so I probably wouldn't have been able to see it even if it was still there, but I think they had already towed the carcass away by that point anyway.

I was surprised to find that, from this overlook that nearly straddles the place where Everett becomes Mukilteo, I could still hear the sounds of California sea lions barking from their haul-out at the Everett naval station. While I figured there may still be a Steller or two hanging around, I thought for sure the CSL's would have been out of here by the first couple days of May. It would be so much easier to make an accurate timeline of their seasonal movement in the Puget Sound if there was some way to get within viewing distance of their haul-out...but that property is all owned by the Navy and private corporations and protected by a crazy amount of security. Would probably have to have a death wish to try trespassing there.

It's that time of year... North-central Puget Sound is opaque larval soup.

Yesterday, 1 April, I noticed a couple of small, near-shore schools of juvenile forage fish (Pacific sand lance), the first I've seen of the year. I started to see some (non-schooling) larval fish w/ bioluminescent-looking yellow-green eyes dispersed among the plankton last week. When I was back in the water yesterday, these had become much more abundant.

Sea lions are around, but I haven't had any encounters in the water yet this year, which is surprising (granted I was pretty ill from mid-January to mid-February, which is by far the longest stretch of time I've spent out of the water in at least a year and a half). Trying to understand more about the factors that draw these animals into the Puget Sound to begin with and whether there is a way to predict/account for annual variations in their numbers. There appears to be a major spike in the number of transient Orcas turning up inland, so I'm wondering whether that could have an effect on the visibility of sea lions here. On a side note, L-pod Southern Residents were spotted in Monterey Bay (with calf L124) a couple of days ago (apparently in search of salmon), which is unusual but not unheard-of....

Unusual developments w/ gray whales in the Sound too: two individuals overwintered here. I don't think this has happened before. These are CRC-185 & CRC-2246, and they are still here, now hanging around with the NPS regulars. I had the bizarre honor of seeing these two while I was in the water on 15 December, although I wasn't initially able to confirm they were grays (fortunately someone else spotted them within minutes of my encounter, and this person did identify them). I was fortunate to see them again just the other week -on 24 March - along with several of the usual Spring visitors.

Haven't seen any sunflower sea stars yet this year, which is worrying...

Both species of sea lions are definitely back in this part of the Puget Sound in significant numbers by mid-September (neither species breeds in Washington state). No encounters in the water yet, and I never solicit such encounters, but probably just a matter of time before they begin to occur.......