Alright. In the lovely state of Washington, on the Olympic Peninsula, there is a small island. It is known as Protection Island. Years ago it was privately owned and there was a small community of upper class families living on it. On October 15, 1982, it was turned into a National Wildlife Refuge.

Here lies the first indescrepency. It was turned into a Wildlife Refuge supposedly because of the incredible amount of birds that nest there every year.

Protection Island Refuge is located near the mouth of Discovery Bay in the Strait of Juan de Fuca in Jefferson County, Washington. Approximately 70 percent of the nesting seabird population of Puget Sound and the Strait of Juan de Fuca nest on the island, which includes one of the largest nesting colonies of rhinoceros auklets in the world and the largest nesting colony of glaucous-winged gulls in Washington. The island contains one of the last 2 nesting colonies of tufted puffins in the Puget Sound area. About 1,000 harbor seals depend upon the island for a pupping and rest area.

(That's from the government's website.) The problem is that nobody ever sees any birds on it. It's mostly bald of any trees, so it would be painfully obvious if there were that many birds on it... (That last bit about the seals is defintely true. They are seen laying all around the beaches almost year round.)

Obvously, because it's a Wildlife Refuge, it is not open to the public at all. The same site says:

The island is closed to the public to protect nesting seabirds and harbor seals.

That's fine and understandable, except that there aren't any birds to protect...

Secondly, the island is oddly shaped, with a patch of trees on the far side and steep bluffs around the entire thing. Diamond Point, a heavily developed bit of land, is less than a mile away and slighly higher than the island, and many people living there have a decent view of the island. However, none of them can see the treed area.

Months ago I tried to find a satelite image of it. I tried Terraserver, and that service was accurate and got me close enough to find my house. Anyhow, it has all of the surrounding area, which includes the tens of San Juan islands, some too small for anyone to live on, in high detail EXCEPT Protection Island. They have a shot of it from very high up, but when you try to go in closer, there's nothing there. You can see all the empty water around, but the 'tiles' that should have the island on them are black, as if satelite photos were never taken of the island. I tried several other services and all were similar. A friend of mine even had a local map that included everything BUT the island. There was a big empty spot where it should have been.

Third, there is a lot of submarine activity near the island. This wouldn't be all that odd since there is the nearby Subase Bangor in Bremerton. The odd thing is that the submarines often stop very close to Protection Island and sometimes small boats are seen going to and fro from the sub to the island, as if they're re-supplying it.

Fourth, I have heard several first hand accounts of people who have gone close to the island in boats. One man was in a canoe and he and a couple with him had rowed close to the island to look at the seals on the beach. Almost immediately, and 'out of nowhere' came a large, black coast guard ship and they were forcefully told that it was illegal to come that close to the island.

The other couple of instances I have heard first hand were very similar in that a large boat comes 'out of nowhere' and very forcefully, rudely even, demands that you leave.

It isn't just me that believes that something odd is going on on Protection Island. You mention it to almost anyone locally and they'll say something about a 'conspiracy theory' or a 'base' on the island.

There are several buildings on the island still visible. A couple of them are from when people still lived on the island. There is a barn and a small shed visible...

[edit on 4-12-2006 by oxgoad]

Well I'm honored that you guys don't think I'm crazy. I'm aware of the boat tours, and if I remember correctly, they're pretty expensive, otherwise I would have done it already. However, as you can see in the picture it is hard to see much on the island because of the very high bluffs.

I'm not sure what the line on GoogleEarth is all about. There is a small wharf on Diamond Point, which is the bit of land directly below the island. To be honest, I don't know all that much about the area that line leads to. I'll see if I can find anything out.

That spit that you can see on the far left side of the island is not always visible above the water.

This is taken from the article I posted a link to in my previous post:

Then, on December 13, a Navy EA-6B electronic countermeasure jet aircraft exploded in mid-flight above Discovery Bay.

An eyewitness to the crash said “the plane appeared to be flying at cloud level when it made a ‘poosh’ sound and lit up, then began trailing fire and descending at a 45-degree angle.”(5) The structure of events and the nature of the crash are indicative of a missile hit--that a submarine launched anti-aircraft missile, known by the acronym SLAM, brought this airplane down.

I have talked to many long time locals who remember that day. I talked to one man who lived on Discovery Bay at the time and he said that the FBI (although I'm not sure if he actually remembered or knew exactly who had come) went door to door asking everyone for any debris that may have landed in their yard. My uncles remember going to his house to see the pieces of it that he had hidden from the FBI when they asked for it.

This is a true piece of local history. Check our local papers. It was sensational for a while until the usual lack of explanation that usually follows anything that dramatic set in and people were forced to move on.

All of this seems suspicious.