Beach Camp at Sunset Bay

Located halfway between Edmonds and Mukilteo, this is a good place to listen to central Puget Sound. You may hear sounds from marine life like killer whales, seals, and possibly humpback or gray whales. You will also hear human-made noise from ferries, vessels passing through Possession Sound, and even trains! (Tracks run along the top of the beach here, only 100m from the hydrophone).

A single hydrophone was first deployed in fall 2021 and redeployed in winter 2022 and spring 2023 by securing it to the base of an intertidal ladder on the southwest corner of the wharf at a depth of about -0.5 meters (relative to mean lowest low tidal height). The Sunset Bay location is hosted by Beach Camp at Sunset Bay and maintained by Orca Conservancy.

Status updates:

10/20/23: The hydrophone streaming computer has been replaced by Tamara, Joel, and Scott.

6/5/23: Joel, Dave, and Scott re deployed a single WDFW-funded CRT SQ26-08 hydrophone to the base of a new ladder, this time armoring it with Paul Spong's trick -- a garden hose. Thanks to Jeffrey and the Beach Camp staff for repairing the severe damage from the windstorm last fall.

Learn more about the Sunset Bay node

This node was funded in 2023 by Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife through The Department of Ecology’s Equipment Grant program to improve location detection of Southern Resident Killer Whales and other marine mammals during oil spills (SPPREG-2123-WaSDFW-00025).