The end?

Sometimes we mark the beginnings of events, or the peaks, but we're not as good at documenting the ends.

Large numbers of By-the-wind Sailors washed ashore throughout late July, August, and September.  In late September, around the 28th, after some strong northwest winds, Velella started to become hard to find on local beaches.

As of today (19 October 2014), there are still a few non-living floats/sails washing up, but not many.

Also of note is that smaller Velella started to appear in late August (see below).  These Velella were between ~1.5-3 cm long.

 

 

These smaller Velella never became abundant, but became more common through September, and we saw ~10 of them today on Salmon Creek Beach.

Here's one from 27 September...

 

...and a few non-living floats/sails from 19 October: 

 

 

It appears that we've passed the time of seeing live Velella washing ashore in 2014 (but I'd love to hear about it if you see one!).