This is the south end of Budd Bay, the inlet of Puget Sound that comes down into downtown Olympia, Washington. There is pretty limited ship traffic down this far, but one of the few regular uses is for loading logs onto ships for export. The negative side of this is the stream of log trucks bringing loads of logs right through the middle of downtown. Between where I was standing and the log ship you can see the two tugboats that are stationed in Olympia when there is shipping traffic.
Bull Kelp is a very common seaweed in Puget Sound and provides some important protection for young salmon … and important nutrients for the food chain. It is an annual … what you see here is just the top of a mass of kelp (you can see some of it in the water running down to the left lower corner. A lot of the bull kelp will wash up onto beaches where young kids try to play crack-the-whip with it.
Port Townsend (where I live) is at the northeast corner of the Olympic Peninsula where the Strait of Juan de Fuca meets Puget Sound… and at the top of what is referred to as the Admiralty Inlet area.
This image shows the area where the two bodies of water meet. In the distance is Whidbey Island and above it Mt Baker, the northern-most of the stratovolcanoes of the Washington Cascades. Tidal currents in the area can reach 6 knots. (Canoes and kayaks beware!)
Virga is rain that evaporates before hitting the ground. This photo was taken with my iPhone looking across Puget Sound from Marrowstone Island looking east across to Whidbey Island.
This totem pole sits in downtown Port Townsend outside the building complex that hosts the Northwest Maritime Center and the Wooden Boat Foundation. When the local native peoples have their canoe paddle down Puget Sound, this is one of their stops.