PORT ANGELES — Looming over Port Angeles Harbor, a towering mobile oil rig and its heavy-lift ship have attracted curious sightseers from near and far since their arrival.
Sean Rust, 47, of Bainbridge Island spent part of his Sunday afternoon on Ediz Hook photographing the colossal pair of vessels — the MV Blue Marlin and the 355-foot-tall Polar Pioneer rig.
Rust was visiting in the Port Angeles area when he saw the massive structure rising out of the water.
“I figured it was an oil rig. I was surprised to see it here. This is a huge thing in the harbor,” Rust said.
Dozens of small groups, including families, bicycle teams and friends, wandered the beach, enjoying the sun and the unusual view.
A bicycle group from Poulsbo was unimpressed by the sight.
“We work on Navy ships. We see this all the time,” said Jeremy Stevens.
Others were less accustomed to the scale on which the two seagoing vehicles were built.
“When I saw it I couldn’t believe it. It is tremendous,” said 81-year-old Sequim resident Jerry Tonini.
On the other side of the harbor, the esplanade was crowded with people seeking a good view of the behemoths, filling most of the parking spots on Oak Street.
The visitors to the waterfront speculated about how such a large thing as the Polar Pioneer could be loaded on and off the Blue Marlin.
“I have so many questions. How do you get it on? How do you get it off,” wondered Ernie Allen, 42, of Sequim who was visiting Port Angeles with his wife and children.
The Blue Marlin is a partially submersible heavy lift ship, which loads and unloads its cargo by submerging its large open deck below the water’s surface, allowing its cargo to float on or off.
The Polar Pioneer will be offloaded from the Blue Marlin, which carried the huge mobile oil rig from Malaysia, and the rig will be towed into Seattle to be prepared for arctic drilling.
The ship and rig arrived in Port Angeles Harbor at about 7 a.m. Friday morning.
A contingent of protesters were on hand for arrival, and set up a protest flotilla and a shore-based protest on Ediz Hook on Friday, but departed after a few hours.
The Blue Marlin carried the USS Cole across the Atlantic to the U.S. after the Cole was badly damaged by a terrorist attack in Yemen that killed 17 American sailors in October 2000.
The Polar Pioneer — a 400-foot-long and 355-foot-tall rig owned by Transocean Ltd. — is one of two drill rigs Royal Dutch Shell hopes to use for exploratory drilling in the Chukchi Sea, off Alaska’s northern shore.
The Blue Marlin and the Polar Pioneer departed Malaysia in early March.
It was intercepted by the Greenpeace vessel Esperanza — a recycled Russian firefighting ship with a crew of 35 — while traversing the Pacific Ocean.
On April 6, six Greenpeace activists boarded the Polar Pioneer about 750 miles northwest of Hawaii and remained on board for about six days, often holding protest signs saying “The People vs. Shell.”
Rough seas forced the activists off of the rig to return to the Esperanza, and U.S. District Judge Sharon Gleason in Anchorage, Alaska, issued a temporary restraining order that blocked the group from repeating the protest.
The ruling bars Greenpeace and its activists from boarding, barricading or interfering with the movement of the Polar Pioneer, the Blue Marlin and the other drill rig, the Noble Discoverer, and remains in effect until at least April 28, when a hearing into the matter is scheduled.
The Esperanza followed the Blue Marlin to the Strait of Juan de Fuca but did not enter Port Angeles Harbor and instead docked in Victoria, B.C.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arice@peninsuladailynews.com.
Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Chris McDaniel contributed to this report.
