The Blue Hole
January 14th, 2010
Pilots call Sequim "The Blue Hole"
This morning we awoke to a threatening gray sky and an equally gray Strait of Juan de Fuca. The city of Victoria, across the sea, was hidden under a heavy cloak of clouds. Soon the wind picked up, singing through the cedars, and bringing sheets of rain with it. Our guests figured their best plan for the day would be to visit the Hoh Rain Forest. If you’re going to explore a rain forest, you might as well see it on a stormy day, with the moss glistening with raindrops.
Then, by mid-morning, the winds halted all at once, and the sun broke through. With the mercury showing 50 degrees, I couldn’t resist spending the afternoon outside, working in the gardens. By noon, there wasn’t a cloud above us in the bright blue sky. “The Blue Hole” is what pilots call Sequim. As they fly through the cloudbanks covering most of western Washington, they know they are flying over Sequim when the clouds part, and suddenly they are flying through blue sky. Meteorologists call it the “rainshadow effect.” Here at Sea Cliff Gardens Bed and Breakfast, tucked between Port Angeles and Sequim, we are perfectly situated in the rain shadow of the glorious Olympic Mountains. ~Bonnie
