The Salish Sea

We went to a talk tonight at the Seattle Aquarium on the Salish Sea, the body of water that stretches from Olympia, WA to Campbell River, BC., recently renamed for the first people to live here.   Dr. Joe Gaydos is a wildlife veterinarian for the SeaDoc Society, a science based marine conservation program of the UC Davis Wildlife health Center.  He also coauthored a wonderful book “The Salish Sea: Jewel of the Pacific Northwest “which we were given by a guest last summer—with gorgeous photos….. He talked about some of the projects they are doing and some of the amazing resources of the Salish Sea.  Did you know that it harbors the largest octopus in the world and also the largest barnacle and who knew that red sea urchins lived 150 years here.   They are also trying to coordinate all the different studies on Orcas…. there were 9 new babies last year. (more info on projects in the link above)

After some hot clear days, the clouds rolled in tonight so this is the best I could do right before the sunset.  You can barely see the Olympic mountains… and West Seattle, and a ferry out there…

Might be my entry for the WBC, “Seascapes.” (why couldn’t this have been the challenge for last week when I looked at crashing waves on volcanic rock all week..?) 


I’ve put the sea on the map. It's basically an estuary, with the Pacific Ocean coming in and meeting all sorts of fresh water rivers. (you might have to zoom out larger)