Went this morning to help a friend bring his boat through the Seattle Locks towards the Sound As we were waiting to enter the small lock, all three local police boats came rushing up and took precedence over us. We couldn't figure out where all three could be going and the Locktender didn't know. So, we got his boat to Shilshole fine and didn't think anymore about it. A few hour later, my wife, daughter and I were leaving for the weekend and as we pulled out of the north entrance to Shilshole, this bad boy was heading towards us. It is the Shell drilling rig, Polar Pioneer, headed to a dock right in downtown Seattle. Very controversial here. Foss Marine leased a terminal for "Marine Services" and then turned around and subleased to Shell to use as a staging terminal for its summer drilling season in the Chukchi Sea in Alaska. Turns out the police boats were for protester expected as the rig got down into Elliott Bay and into the terminal. There were a few kayakers out protesting.