WE FIRST WROTE about the drift card study of Port Angeles’ Lincoln High School last June 12.
Since 2003, students in Deb Volturno’s science classes have been using drift cards to learn about the ocean currents in our region by conducting an annual study titled “Marine Tidal Currents Study of the Salish Sea.”
According to Volturno, the students originally became interested in the local currents when a fisherman disappeared from the Elwha River and his body was eventually found on the west coast of Vancouver Island.
On May 18, 2011, 16 students were split into two groups. Each group separately boarded a U.S. Coast Guard boat and was taken four miles out into the Strait of Juan de Fuca, where group members collectively tossed 250 drift cards into the ocean.
Later that day, an additional 150 cards were tossed into the Strait from beaches at Ediz Hook off Port Angeles.
Over the years of the study, the students’ drift cards have been found in and around Port Angeles, Dungeness Spit, Freshwater Bay and Salt Creek.
They have been found close to Seattle and well into the Columbia River.
Vancouver Island has been well dotted with the cards, from Victoria to Sooke, up the west coast to Tofino and numerous points in between.
Volturno recently sent me an email with an update on the study.
She wrote that the cards are still cycling around and that their locations continue to be reported by individuals who find them along the water’s edge.
Volturno said that last spring’s study has been somewhat unusual because in the past, it has been rare to receive any sightings of cards after September of each year.
She attributes this to the fact that many beachcombers stay close to the warmth of their homes during the winter.
In contrast, Volturno said sightings through February of this year include those along British Columbia’s west coast in Port Renfrew as well as multiple locations in the Salish Sea and as far north as Nanaimo, B.C.
Closer to home, drift cards have been found on the Dungeness Spit north of Sequim as well as Crescent Beach, Rialto Beach, Cape Flattery and at the mouth of the Sooes River, which empties into the Pacific Ocean at Sooes Beach.
She surmised that the increase in reported sightings for the current study is attributable to an increased number of people beachcombing for Japanese tsunami debris.
Finders of the lime-green-colored cards that measure 4 inches by 6 inches are asked to report three things: the number of the card, where it was found and the date it was discovered. Information is on the card about where to send the data.
Alaska job
Chandra, “Hollywood” McGoff of Washington Marine Repair, the topside-repair company at the foot of Cedar Street in Port Angeles, said the company recently sent a crew of four journeymen to Valdez, Alaska, to work on the gas turbine system aboard the Alaskan Explorer, a 940-foot crude oil tanker.
Hollywood said the personnel worked on the vessel as she made her way to a refinery in Long Beach, Calif., and that they will remain onboard until about March 12, at which time they will be flown home.
In other Washington Marine activities, Sierra, an 831-foot crude oil tanker whose previous owners dubbed her Kenai, has been anchored in the harbor since early Tuesday morning.
Two shifts of boilermakers are working on the ship making various steel repairs and replacing a handful of pumps and valves.
Sharp-eyed harbor watchers have noted that the 831-foot ship is sporting a new coat of paint.
She recently returned from Singapore, where she was in dry dock for her routine five-year inspection that ensures the ongoing quality of her systems and the integrity of her hull.
CSI: Port Angeles?
Platypus Marine Inc. had a visitor from CSI at its Port Angeles complex at Marine Drive and Cedar Street on March 1.
While most of us were winding down our day, the individual from CSI was focusing his attention on three Canadian commercial fishing boats.
John Jenkins, who owns Cold Fish, one of them, said the three boats were being inspected by a member of the Canadian Steamship Inspection Service — which goes by the abbreviation CSI.
It operates under the government agency Transport Canada.
Transport Canada requires commercial fishing vessels to be hauled out of the water every four years for a complete inspection of all mechanical systems and to ensure that all life-saving, fire-extinguishing and navigation equipment is complete in all respects and in good working order.
In addition to the customary fees for these inspections, Jenkins, along with the owners of the other two boats, Viking Queen and Eliza Joy, paid the additional expenses incurred by the inspector to come to Port Angeles.
At the very least, these included a round-trip ticket on the ferry MV Coho and overnight accommodations.
When I asked John why the boat owners didn’t get the inspections done in Victoria, he gave me a little insight into why more and more Canadian fishing vessels are finding their way to Port Angeles — and specifically to Platypus Marine.
John said that on Vancouver Island, there are a number of facilities where commercial vessels can be hauled out.
However, there are no facilities that have enclosed and heated buildings such as are found at Platypus Marine.
As a consequence, boat owners have to wait until the weather warms up before hauling their vessels out of the water for repairs and inspections.
This creates a situation where haul-out space becomes a premium because of the high number of vessels that need to be on the hard.
Coming to Platypus Marine, John explained, means that he and his crew as well as the crews of the other fishing boats can perform their tasks in shirtsleeves come rain or shine, snow or wind.
Additionally, most of the paints, coatings, epoxies and adhesives used in repairing and refurbishing their boats are dependent on a stable environment where the minimum temperature remains at or greater than 55 degrees.
Pilot boat stowed
The pilot boat Strait of Juan de Fuca is out of the water and stowed in the Commander building at Platypus Marine.
According to Capt. Charlie Crane, Platypus’ director of sales and marketing, the 74-foot boat has been on the hard for a few days during which time the Hamilton water jets were serviced, sandblasted and repainted.
The boat’s crew also will give the composite hull and superstructure a new coat of wax.
The Strait of Juan de Fuca and her companion vessel, Puget Sound, were built in 1999 by the Nordlund Boat Co. of Tacoma.
The boats are powered by two 900-horsepower marine diesel engines that drive two Hamilton water jets.
They are the only two pilot boats the Tacoma yacht maker has built.
Harbor action
Tesoro Petroleum on Tuesday bunkered Aqua Atlantic, a 623-foot bulk cargo ship that is due into Cebu City, Philippines, on March 28.
Canary, which is also a 623-foot bulk cargo ship, also was refueled. She, too, is now under way for the Philippines and is due into Mariveles on March 29.
On Wednesday, Tesoro provided bunkers to Polar Enterprise, an 894-foot crude oil tanker that will arrive in Valdez, Alaska, this morning for another 54 million gallons of crude oil — give or take.
On Thursday, Tesoro had its refueling barge alongside the Crowley-owned articulated tug and barge Vision, and on Friday, Tesoro bunkered Sierra.
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David G. Sellars is a Port Angeles resident and former Navy boatswain’s mate who enjoys boats and strolling the waterfronts.
Items 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 every Sunday.
