A few weeks ago, on a grey, cool Pacific Northwest day, I took a trip around the Grays Harbor bay to Westport, Wash., to catch some waves.
Westport lies on the Pacific coast, 25 miles from my hometown of Hoquiam and an hour trip by bus. Hoquiam is inland on the north side of the bay, while Westport is on the south side, right at the mouth of the harbor. Hence the sense of going around the bay to get there, though it's only a few miles further inland to the bridge over the Chehalis River that takes you from one side of the bay to the other.
Westport is a fishing town. There are numerous canneries processing crab and fish throughout the year, two of which I've worked for (and written about here) on occasion. When I'm working out there, I rarely get to see the ocean, though it's only a stone's throw from the canneries, and I almost never take my camera along: cannery work (at least in this area) tends to attract a rather sketchy crowd, and it's risky to leave valuables unattended, even in a locker.
Then, when I'm working elsewhere, the bus ride becomes an inconvenience and an excuse not to take the trip. An hour isn't so long, but I end up feeling trapped when I get there, either waiting on the bus when I'm ready to go, or cutting my adventure short to catch it.
That's not much of an excuse for not making it out to see the Pacific Ocean, I know, but there you have it. Thankfully this summer I've been able take a hiatus from wage labor, and on the day of these photos, the wealth of time I have on my hands overwhelmed my resistance to getting 'trapped' by the bus schedule.
Ironically, the best place to photograph the ocean waves is about a half mile from the actual ocean, on the levee that protects the marina, where you can watch them crashing into the jetties. All the photos in this post were taken in the location you see above, either standing atop the levee or down on the beach between the jetties.
There was a fair number of vessels passing in and out of the harbor that day. Below, we see the Northern Lady, a fishing boat built in 1978, according to VesselFinder. I wasn't able to catch the name on the white boat above.
On the far end of the jetty, a menagerie of seabirds was hanging out, including brown pelicans, black cormorants, and (of course) seagulls. My 18-55 mm lens was not strong enough to get a better shot of the birds than the one below, from my position on the levee, and I didn't dare to venture out onto the jetty itself. I was concerned about sneaky waves out there (I've been pulled in before!), and I knew that if I did get close enough, the birds would probably just take off, and I really didn't want to disturb them.
The bird shit though! Those white streaks tell me this is a favorite bird hang out, and if I had to guess, I would say it's the brown pelicans leaving that mess: they're the biggest.
I did catch a few decent shots of the birds skimming the waves. Below, a pelican.
And then I tracked some cormorants.
While I was snapping away at the waves, a woman and a boy ventured out onto the jetty and created a nice scene. At first the boy came by himself, and I worried for his safety, but then the woman joined him. I assumed she knew what she was doing, or was a good enough swimmer she could rescue her kid if need be.
My favorite part of the following two images is probably the Olympic mountain range (or just Mt. Olympus) showing on the horizon. In this part of the Pacific Northwest, the mountains are out, as they say, only on occasion, and these are possibly the first photos of them I've shared in the blog.
And finally, we'll end our post with a shot of the largest wave I caught in this outing. I probably should have hung out in this location at the base of the jetty a bit longer than I did, but I didn't want to get myself or the camera wet.
Kowabunga!
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Does look like it'd be rideable on the right swell!
Yeah, they do practice surfing there, right in the area I was photographing, when it's big enough.