One boat, two boat, three boat, four: Residents across the North Olympic Peninsula are discovering a number of tiny wooden boats washing ashore.
The boats aren’t toys. They’re part of a science project.
For the past three years, Tahoma School District fifth-grade students in Maple Valley have traveled to Camp Casey on Whidbey Island in the spring to study tides, currents and climate.
At the end of the four-day field trip, the students release small wooden boats into the Strait of Juan de Fuca and Puget Sound, using the information they’ve learned to predict where the boats will land.
This year, 500 boats were released the first week of April. So far, 16 of about 100 discovered have shown up along the North Olympic Peninsula.
The boats have been found everywhere from Port Townsend to Rialto Beach.
Floating far from home
Rialto Beach is the farthest destination from Camp Casey reported so far, said Radie Haytack, outdoor education director for the Tahoma School District.
The boat was found May 11 by Kim McCary of Anacortes, when she and her daughter were hiking along the beach.
Lake Ozette is the next farthest location from Camp Casey that boats are known to have run aground.
One boat was found by Olympic National Park volunteer ranger Jim Fearn on the beach by Sand Point trail.
Another boat was discovered by Alan Olson about a half-mile north of Norwegian Memorial.
Two boats have landed along Ediz Hook in Port Angeles, four along Dungeness Spit in Sequim, one in Discovery Bay and six along the shores of Port Townsend.
However, the majority of boats this year have been found in the San Juan Islands and on the southern shores of Vancouver Island.