— by Lin McNulty —

SITKA, Alaska – A Coast Guard MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew home based in Sitka, prepare to drop a lower to a safely hoist a rescue dummy during a marine rescue event held at the Royal Canadian Forces annual search and rescue exercise in Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada, Sept. 23, 2010. The crew, which consisted of a pilot, co-pilot, three flight mechanics and two rescue swimmers, arrived on Wednesday Sept. 22, 2010, in time to participate in Thursday's marine rescue event which they won. U.S. Coast Guard photo courtesy of Air Station Sitka

USCG MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter.

No, we’re not being invaded. The United States Coast Guard is taking advantage of mean low tides this week to make repairs to navigational aids in and around Orcas Island, according to Petty Officer Morales of the USCG in Seattle.

A Jayhawk helicopter will be assisting a USCG vessel on the water as repairs are made. The Jayhawk will be airlifting concrete to the repair site in Ewing Cove on Sucia Island. The cove is notorious for boats getting stuck at low tide on the rocks.

What the Coast Guard is doing is putting into a place a metal casing (now that the tides are low) over the hazardous rocks which they will then fill with concrete to make it less hazardous for boaters.

Operations began today (Monday, May 18, 2015) and are expected to continue into Tuesday and possibly into Wednesday (or longer) depending upon progress.

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