Sunset at Fort Casey

Sunset at Fort Casey

During our stay on Whidbey Island we had the opportunity to visit many beautiful places, one of them was Fort Casey.

Once on the Island we drove to our little home we had rented for the week, then we started to explore, as we were driving we came upon a row of houses that all looked alike, I told my wife I thought they looked just like the houses in Fort Yellowstone, at Mammoth Hot Springs, turns out they are the officers houses at Fort Casey, we had no idea there was, or had been a fort in that area, I guess we should have done a little homework, but then again we love the excitement of finding these places on our own.

We drove into the Washington State Park at Fort Casey and had a look around, what a cool place, there is the Admiralty head lighthouse built on a little mound so it's light could be seen by  sailors to safely guide them around the rocky cost line. There are also two "Batteries" the Moore, and the Kingsbury, these Batteries were built 1899 as part of the Puget Sound Harbor defense, they were equipped with 10 "Disappearing" guns. The guns take their name from the ability to be lowered below the top of the structure for reloading so the solders could not be fired upon, what a great idea.

When we got there is was cold, windy, and the middle of the day so we just took a quick drive around, stopped to take a look, from the car at Moore Battery, it's the closest one to the parking area! Since it was the middle of the day, and the sky was gray, and it was way cold we did not get out of the car to look around, but it stuck in my mind, that large 10" gun sitting on it's turret above the Battery.

We went back in the evening of a different day.

The wind was blowing and it was cold as the sun began to set in the western sky, the cold wind coming off of the northern waters of the Pacific Ocean caused tears to well in my eyes as I grabbed the camera, the tripod, and a bag of rocks to hang from the tripod to make it sturdy in the blowing wind. I headed across the grounds of Fort Casey to the Moore Battery. Climbing onto the Fort Bridge in hopes of getting a good view of the gun and the sunset, no chance there, I crossed the little cement bridge onto the main deck of the battery, perfect!

I set the camera up on the tripod, hung the bag of rocks on the bottom of the center column, and stuck my hands in my pockets, it was cold, and I was feeling it. Once I was set up and warmed up...a little, I set the exposure, and started taking my photographs, hurrying as the white hot sun melted into the cold blue waters of the Pacific Ocean I was able to capture this photograph of "Sunset at Fort Casey"!
To see this and all of my photographs click here!

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