I have been involved with the Coast Guard's planning activities for the
Tall Ships event and will be down there on the water tomorrow through
Monday. (If you see a red aluminum boat flying an orange and white Coast
Guard flag, that's me.) They expect up to a half million people, and
parking will be an absolute nightmare. The July 4 fireworks should be
extra spectacular. It should be worth the trip, but wear comfortable
walking shoes, because you are likely to be walking quite a way. And as
always, take water. Fortunately, it's expected to be cool.

Mary Ann Chapman
Seattle

At 08:30 AM 7/1/2005, Lynn Schulz wrote:
>Hi Tweets:
>This is about birds and ships. My husband and I watched the parade of
>Tall Ships Tacoma yesterday from
>Brown's Point near Federal Way. Brown's Point is the area w/ the
>lighthouse, north of
>Tacoma's Commencement Bay. From here there is a nice view of Vashon Island
>and the mouth of Quartermaster Harbor, Point Defiance, and the Ruston
>Way-Asarco shores of Tacoma. We arrived about 12:45pm and I watched birds
>and ships. The ships and many, many beautiful sail boats were pulling out
>of Quartermaster Harbor, raising their sails including some square-rigged
>sails. They then sailed slowly across the gap between Vashon Island and Pt.
>Defiance. Then they sailed along the Tacoma Waterfront along Ruston Way
>toward downtown Tacoma. The Lady Washington was among the ships. She is
>no-longer painted black (from when she was loaned to Disney for the filming
>of "Pirates of the Caribbean"). Her hull is now very colorful. The largest
>ships were from Mexico (Acapulco-the Mexican Navy), and Russia. Wow! More
>about the Tall Ships and a website are below the birds report.
>
>We were at Brown's Point just before and during high tide. The weather was
>warm, partly cloudy, and there was no wind. About two hundred people were
>there to watch. Kids were playing in the water. I was surprised to see a
>pair of dark brown MARBLED MURRELETS feeding very close to shore and near to
>the people. The Murrelets continued to stay and feed in the area near shore
>for quite awhile. Other birds seen:
>Pelagic Cormorant - 1
>Double-crested Cormorant - 1
>MARBLED MURRELET - 2
>Pigeon Guillemot - 2
>Caspian Tern - 10
>PURPLE MARTIN - 2 (these are the first Purple Martins I've seen at Brown's
>Point. They flew in calling and landed in the tall trees. The Purple
>Martins were both female, or a female and a juvenile. Are Purple Martin
>juveniles fledged yet?
>
>If you are in the downtown Tacoma area, be sure to look for
>Peregrines near the 11th St bridge, and on ledges of buildings downtown.
>The last I heard, the Tacoma Peregrines who raised 5 young!! last year, were
>late brooding this year. But Peregrines are near there and should be around
>the downtown area.
>
>Even though the ships passed at quite a distance from us on Brown's Point,
>we enjoyed the
>show. The tall ships will stay in
>Tacoma in the downtown area near the museums from now until July 4. They
>will leave on the 5th. Cost is $10. per day to go onto the various ships,
>but views should be great along shore and that's for free. If you haven't
>been along the Tacoma downtown and waterfront out along Commencement Bay
>lately, you ought to take the downtown freeway, hwy 705 and check it out.
>The area is spectacular w/ museums downtown, and parks and restaurants out
>along Ruston Way.
>You can find out more about Tall Ships Tacoma at
>http://www.tallshipstacoma.com Check out the pix of the visiting ships.
>Wow! If you are coming from the north, and don't want to try to park
>downtown, it looks
>like a possible good spot to take a shuttle to the events is from Fife
>High School.
>The shuttle runs from the high school from 9am to 5:15pm and returns to the
>high school 3:05pm until 9pm. (I would not try to take the shuttle from
>the Emerald Queen Casino, as that parking lot really fills up.) To reach
>the Fife High School, take exit 137 in
>Fife, and go left across the freeway. Turn left on 20th St which
>parallels hwy 99. (I couldn't make this section of the map print out from
>the website on my computer.) Information about several shuttles
>including one from the Tacoma Mall is on the website. (These other
>shuttles/buses may run more often than the one sponsered by the city of Fife.)
>Remember, the Tall Ships event does not come to our area every year. It
>is worth trying to see this in a very-spectacular setting. You might see
>some birds, too.
>Yours, Carol Schulz
>DesMoines, WA
>
>
>
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