Lightening

Just before the 4^th of July holiday, Theresa and I led a private evening paddle over to Blake Island. Of course, with sunset not until after 9 pm, it’s not really an evening paddle but more of a twilight paddle. Our put-in was at the Southworth Ferry terminal so it’s a relatively short paddle over to the island.

Blake Island was originally used by the Suquamish tribe and is the birth place of Chief Seattle. The island received its name in 1841 from Lt. Charles Wilkes of the United States Exploring Expedition. Over the years the island has been privately owned, used as a smugglers base during prohibition and a Coastal Artillery garrison during WWII. Now it’s part of the Washington State Park system and Tillicum Village is open to the public for a great experience of Coastal First Nation culture and art.

Blake Island Evening Paddle. Photo by Steve Weileman

Our clients where right on time and it wasn’t long before we where on the water headed to our destination. The forecast called for a slight chance of evening thunderstorms but the skies didn’t look particularly threatening, and I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve experienced lightening here in the northwest. However, this was one of the exceptions to the rule.

After the storm. Photo by Steve Weileman

Just as we approached the island for our snack break, we started to hear rumbles in the distance. It wasn’t long before we started seeing the strikes over on Alki Point, a suburb of Seattle. Personally, I love lightening and as I kid growing up on the Gulf Coast, I would always watch the storms from the carport. However, with clients I have to admit it was a bit disconcerting as, although the storm was to the east of us, we were well within the possible strike range. It was quite a show and we watched over a dozen strikes. Luckily, the storm moved off as we neared the time to hit the water for our return trip and we completed the trip with no mishap.

Still, a great natural show for the holidays.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 7th, 2008 at 12:45 pm and is filed under Journal Entry. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.