A National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration research vessel based in Alaska made a brief stop in Port Angeles earlier this month.
It was a homecoming of sorts for her skipper.
The Oscar Dyson moored to Port of Port Angeles’ Terminal 1 for a brief layover Oct 14.
Later in the day, I went aboard the ship and joined Capt. Jesse Stark and his crew for the midday meal.
That vessel travels very well on its stomach.
Commissioned in 2005, the Oscar Dyson is based in Kodiak, Alaska, and was on her way to her winter home in Newport, Ore., NOAA’s Marine Operation Center for its ships that operate in the Pacific.
The vessel primarily is a fisheries research platform for scientists from various NOAA laboratories as well as the academic community that focus on the population dynamics of the pollock and salmon fisheries in Alaska.
One reason the ship stopped in Port Angeles was to give the Seattle-bound scientists onboard an opportunity to disembark.
It also allowed his mother, Karen Stark of Port Angeles, an opportunity to come aboard to visit her son.
Capt. Stark is no stranger to Port Angeles. He graduated from Port Angeles High School in 1990 and Peninsula College in 1992 with a fisheries degree.
During the summer months, he worked on the MV Coho, and he also worked with Roger Ross in Ron Shepherd’s fish charter business on Ediz Hook.
Many of you will recall that Roger is a captain with Polar Tankers.
I asked Capt. Stark how he came to join up with NOAA.
He recalled touring the NOAA ship Rainier when she was moored to Port Angeles City Pier back in the 1990s.
At the time, he had an able seaman, or AB, ticket, earned working aboard the Coho between Port Angeles and Victoria.
The Rainier was in need of an AB; he applied for and was given the job.
He spent the summer of 1998 aboard the hydrographic survey ship making nautical charts and tide gauges.
In 1999, Jesse attended the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, N.Y., and was commissioned into the NOAA Corps.
He went aboard the Oregon II in Mississippi as the navigation officer.
Capt. Stark gave me a tour of the 208.5-foot Oscar Dyson, named after an Alaskan fishing industry leader who died in 1995.
Make no mistake:
The vessel is a floating science laboratory with as many as 15 research scientists all busily delving into their individual areas of expertise trying to make sense of it all — whatever all is.
Platypus busy
Platypus Marine, the full-service steel-boat builder and yacht-repair company on Marine Drive in Port Angeles, on Wednesday hauled out Primus, a 58-foot commercial fishing boat that hails from Vashon Island.
I understand personnel will sandblast and primer most of the steel vessel — no doubt after rolling chocks and a bulbous bow have been installed.
Earlier in the week, Platypus hauled out two large buoys that have been anchored in the waters off Dungeness.
The distinctively yellow buoys are known commercially as wind sentinels.
They are equipped with loads of high-tech equipment that measures the wind’s speed velocity and duration wherever they are moored in an attempt to quantify the optimum location for the placement of an offshore wind farm to generate energy.
[An article on the buoys appeared in the PDN on Sept. 15. It can be read at http://tinyurl.com/pdn-wind.]
The wind sentinels soon will be loaded onto flat-deck trailers and shipped to their job sites off the coasts of Virginia and Oregon.
Log ship visits
Astoria Bay, a 610-foot cargo ship that had been moored to Port of Port Angeles’ Terminal 3 since Oct. 17, got underway Thursday night for Tianjin, China,
Onboard are approximately 6.9 million board feet of softwood logs harvested off private lands in Western Washington that are owned by Merrill & Ring.
Port Angeles Harbor watch
Safe Boats International of Bremerton pulled into the Port Angeles marina Monday in its newest contribution to the U.S. Navy’s fleet of patrol boats.
I understand that the MK VI-model patrol boat, an 85-foot aluminum-hull vessel, is undergoing her initial testing by Navy personnel.
On Tuesday in mid-harbor, Tesoro Petroleum bunkered Densa Cheetah, a 614-foot bulk cargo ship that is flagged in Malta.
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David G. Sellars is a Port Angeles resident and former Navy boatswain’s mate who enjoys boats and strolling the area’s waterfronts. Items and questions involving boating, port activities and the North Olympic Peninsula waterfronts are always welcome. Email dgsellars@hotmail.com or phone him at 360-808-3202.
His column, On the Waterfront, appears Sundays.
