Our sister site, My Ballard, has a photograph of what appears to be a small gray whale just to the west of the Ballard Locks.  A reader saw it around noon on Wednesday, and sent in this photo. He said it was there for about 20 minutes and then disappeared. 

No one at the Army Corps or Shilshole Marina had seen or heard about a whale in the area but it’s not out of the realm of possibility.  A gray whale was seen near the Locks several years ago.

Each year the Corps of Engineers “dewaters” the Ballard Locks, which is the official term for letting the water out to scrape barnacles off the walls and make sure all the mechanical systems are working properly. 

This morning our sister site myballard had the opportunity to climb 55 feet down the scaffolding to the bottom of the large Lock and see the structure from a rare point of view.

 Here are the volunteers who are busy scraping barnacles off the walls. We are appreciative that myballard took on this assignment for us because they report the sound of the scraping is deafening and the smell is eye-watering.  Click here for the entire story.