Deception Pass

This post is the final of 3 about my trip in early July to the Olympic Peninsula and Whidbey Island.

Heading out of Bowman Bay in Deception Pass State Park.

Luckily our trip to Washington coincided with some decent morning low tides. Since we had a new kayak with us, it was a great chance to do some “tidepooling" – not from land, but from the ocean's point of view. I launched the kayak at Bowman Bay in Deception Pass Stake Park and paddled on the north side of the bay towards Rosario Head. It was the same route that I took with my wife and oldest son a few years ago when we paid for a local kayaking tour. 


Map of Bowman Bay and Roasario Head. The red asterisk
marks the approximate location of the Cymathere population I found.





I explored the bull kelp (Nereocystis luetkeana) forests and a few of the rocky outcrops and islets that are so common in Puget Sound and the San Juan Islands. The exposed intertidal rocks were covered in large barnacles, and patches of cabbage kelp (Saccharina sessilis) and other seaweeds. I even saw a sea otter saunter down the from the exposed rocks of the intertidal and slip into the water. I've had no idea that otters made excursions onto land, but perhaps this animal was in search of tasty bivalves.

An otter notwithstanding, my scientific inclinations usually cause me to pay most attention to the plants. There was one particularly exciting find along a section of rugged coastline north of Rosario Head: a small population of several individuals of the kelp Cymathere triplicata. These long strapped shaped kelps were growing in shallow subtidal water right near the short surf zone. I hovered in place for some time trying to get some pictures of the Cymathere blades swirling hear the surface of the water.

Cymathere triplicata.

Cymathere is somewhat of a novelty for me because it does not occur in California or Oregon. It is distributed from Washington to Alaska (Druehl 2000). It is a relatively easy kelp to identify because of the presence of three ribs that run longitudinally down the thick blades. The north Pacific is the center of kelp diversity in the world, and this species is a special Washington treat.

The day had a little adrenaline too. At one point while observing the Cymathere specimens, I got a little too close to the surf zone and started to get pushed into rocks. Later in the day I took the kayak out a second time out of Bowman Bay and proceeded south into Deception Pass. The large wakes from the boats were a concern, but an even larger problem was that I began to be swept into the strong tidal currents that move tremendous volumes of water into the Pass and south towards Seattle. I realized what was occurring pretty quickly and turned around to make my way out of the pass, but found that I was essentially making no ground whatsoever despite paddling with all of my effort. I figured that the currents would be weaker closer to shore and found that I was able to make some progress on my return closer to the rocky shoreline. I wasn't in any particular danger, but if I had not been successful in turning around, I would have had to land at a beach somewhere else in the park and created a lot of work for myself to get the kayak back to the car.

The Washington Islands are a magical place and I have had the fortune to explore, kayak, collect seaweeds and conduct intertidal research among them.

References

Druehl, L.D. 2000. Pacific Seaweeds. Harbour Publishing, British Columbia.


Bull kelp forest in Bowman Bay.