Baby Salmon and Waldron Island
This last summer I spent a great deal of time on Waldron Island. I had taken up residency off and on since December 2006 in a little cabin in the woods - where the trees snuggled in close, the madronas red bark glistening in the afternoon light. Over 4th of July weekend many community members and visitors got together and pulled off Dave Lloyd's tidal experiment. He drove a boat load (literally) of kids out into the bay to drop overboard some hand made floaters that would release dye into the water over the course of the day. Meanwhile back onshore several people pounded away at what would become the new cemetary gates - using an age-old forging method of excessive heat to the point of glowing iron - to large sledge-hammers coming down on all sides you can see a clip made by Matt McCormick here. We had to crank a fan under the sand to stoke the embers to the fire. It was beautiful labor.
We learned that day that the waters around Waldron Island don't seem to have strong currents - which makes sense in terms of there being baby salmon and herring in abundance about the coastline. Everytime i walk onto the pier I always see the baby herring near the top of the water - the baby salmon just below and in the evenings there is a water ballet between the two and the top of the water comes alive with little movements.
