Mandatory Boater Education
Information
| Washington Saltwater State Parks
South Sound to the San Juans
By Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission |
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Washington State Parks has many great getaway destinations with more than 40 marine parks throughout Puget Sound, Hood Canal, the San Juan Islands and the eastern end of the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Some are more popular than others, but virtually all become busy places between Memorial Day and Labor Day. Further information on the parks system or other Washington State Parks and Recreation facilities is available by calling (360) 902-8844 or visiting www.parks.wa.gov |
PENROSE POINT
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On your journey up into Carr inlet, the first park to port is Penrose, a wooded park with public beaches galore and hiking trails through second-growth Douglas-fir forest. There are eight mooring buoys and 304 feet of dock moorage, rest rooms with showers, drinking water and lots of camping and picnic sites. At sunset, take your tea outside and watch the skies. It's not unusual to see a bald eagle or two flying overhead. |
| Kopachuck Cutts Island (a.k.a. Dead Man's Island) |
Farther up in the inlet to starboard is Kopachuck State Park, with tiny neighbor, Cutts Island State Park. Together they have 11 mooring buoys. Beaches are excellent for swimming and picnicking and the park has drinking water and rest rooms. Cutts is just a dinghy ride away and is fun to explore, especially when low tide exposes the long, sandy spit. Beaches at Kopachuck State Park are closed to shellfishing, Cutts Island beaches are open. |
| EAGLE ISLAND | On the other side of McNeil Island, between McNeil and Anderson Island, is a tiny jewel of a park, Eagle Island State Park. Although it has no camping and no facilities on shore, there are 3 mooring buoys. When the waters are choppy, the moorage can get a little rough, but the scenery is lovely. It's also a popular lunch stop. Be very quiet and you'll probably see several harbor seals pop up, as curious about you as you are about them. The beach is pleasant and smooth, but be careful, there's poison oak amongst vegetation farther inland. |
| McMICKEN ISLAND |
Farther down into the Sound, in Case Inlet, McMicken Island offers an abundance of sheltered anchorage, with an easy-to-hold bottom, and five mooring buoys. There's no drinking water but there is a primitive rest room. No camping is allowed. Low tide exposes rocky beaches and bottoms, which make for good beach exploration.
There's all kinds of interesting sea life within easy reach, just remember that you're a guest in their home and look, don't disturb. Bird watching is good too; loons and red-necked grebes have been spotted nearby. If you're on the beach and get that "I'm being watched" feeling, look out at the water. McMicken harbor seals seem to enjoy "people watching" from a safe, watery distance. |
JARRELL COVE
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Travel farther into Case Inlet and "turn left" to visit Jarrell Cove State Park, named for the first woman settler on the island, Mrs. Philora Jarrell. This small, pleasant cove is sheltered even in the worst of weather, and has 14 buoys and two separate mooring floats (682 feet total).
A generous population of semi-wild mallards makes the rounds every evening, graciously volunteering to eat stale bread. The quiet cove is a great place for kids to row off some energy. Onshore, there's drinking water, rest rooms with showers and trails for stretching your legs. On the non-park side of the cove, you can visit the small, private store to replace your bread supply and buy ice. |
JOEMMA BEACH
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Joemma Beach State Park, a 122-acre park on Case Inlet. The park is named after Joe and Emma Smith, who lived there between 1917 and 1932. The Smiths were important figures in the early settlement of the key peninsula. Joe Smith edited and published the Joemma Bulletin, which received national circulation.
South of Jarrell Cove, the park has a great view of the south part of the Olympics. The park is suited to boaters. It has 10 floats, generally open May to September, three moorage buoys open year-round and a boat launch. The park has 19 campsites nestled in fir, madrona and maple trees. The 500' float space is ideal for salmon and trout fishing. If you'd rather dig your dinner, a small beach allows you to try gathering shellfish for supper. |
HOPE ISLAND
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A few miles southwest of Jarrell Cove is Hope Island. Purchased in 1990, this 106 acre island has more than a mile of saltwater beaches and a hiking trail through thick forest. There are two buoys, overnight coamping, interpretive trails, picnic areas but no camp fires. The beach is closed to shellfishing. There is a good bottom for anchoring. If you've never been there before, check your chart, there are some shallow areas extending out from Squaxin and the current runs fast at times. |
BLAKE ISLAND
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Well-known to Seattle boaters because of its proximity, Blake Island State Park is also a convenient and fun in-between moorage for South Sound boaters on their way to Fort Worden or the San Juans.
Densely wooded, the island has nice beaches and hiking trails plus drinking water, rest rooms, and hot showers. Deer and other wildlife freely roam close to the mowed grass and all the human activity. There's lots of dock space and numerous mooring buoys. Blake Island was an ancestral camping ground of the Suquamish Tribe, and it is believed that Chief Sealth (Seattle) may have been born there. Visitors can enjoy salmon barbecued in the old Indian tradition, while watching Northwest Indian dancing at Tillicum Village, a privately operated facility. For more details, call (206) 443-1244. |
| MYSTERY BAY
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This park is of primary interest to boaters, with its 685 feet of shoreline on Mystery Bay. The park provides a great view of the Mountains. The name "Mystery Bay" derives from smuggling activity on the island during Prohibition days. Transporting booze from Canada was a profitable and somewhat honored occupation in the remote waters of NW Washington.
Sequestered between Marrowstone and Indian Islands, Kilisut Harbor was one refuge used by smugglers to evade Coast Guard vessels. Smugglers' boats were easily hidden in the overhanging trees at a small bay near the end of the harbor. Smugglers' regular disappearance here was categorized by the Coast Guard as "mysterious," hence the name of the bay. Located on the west side of Marrowstone Island off the Olympic Peninsula. Boat access is the channel through Kilisut Harbor. The narrow channel makes an S-curve at the entrance. Any deviation from the center of the channel can lead to grounding. Mystery Bay is on the east side of harbor, two miles south of entrance. The park offers one single-lane launch ramp, which drops gently down the beach north of the floats. |
| FORT WORDEN |
Another convenient stopover, Fort Worden State Park is one of the finest parks anywhere; land or water. For day use, overnight camping or mooring it's hard to beat. Located between Point Wilson and Port Townsend, the park has several mooring buoys, on both sides of the pier. There's plenty of dinghy room at the dock and within easy walking distance you will find a long, beautiful beach, a little store with snack bar and pay phones, rest rooms, hot showers and the living sea life displays at the Marine Science Center. You also can catch a city bus to charming Port Townsend and enjoy its Victorian architecture and many fine shops and restaurants.
Walk out to the Point Wilson lighthouse and old gun batteries, explore exposed rocks at low tide. Walk up the hill to the old military post and pick up a self-guiding tour leaflet of the historic buildings, hiking trails, and outdoor sculpture. Fort Worden, Fort Casey and Fort Flagler were built between 1897 and 1911 and formed the first line of defense to guard the Puget Sound cities and the important naval shipyard at Bremerton. |
| DECEPTION PASS Cornet Bay, Bowman Bay  |
Deception Bay State Park is located at the north end of Whidbey Island, on your way to or from the San Juans. The popular Cornet Bay, in the park, has 1140 feet of dock space but no buoys. It's a beautiful, protected area and there's water, hot showers and hiking trails right there. On the other side of the pass is Sharpe's Cove in Bowman Bay with a dock and buoys. Both are scenic, pleasant places to stay and to wait out the tides for passage through Deception Pass.
There is West Beach, East Cranberry Lake and North Beach day-use areas, and the 235 overnight campsites on the north side of Cranberry Lake. |
| SPENCER SPIT
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Spencer Spit State Park is a 138-acre marine and camping park situated on Lopez Island. The park is named for the lagoon-enclosing sand spit on which it rests. There are 16 mooring buoys.
Spencer Spit is an example of a sandspit enclosing a saltchuck lagoon. The spit was formed over a long period of time by the action of wind and tide. The spit is constantly changing. Eventually, it could fill with sediment and lose all its water. As Native American tribes migrated up and down the coast, they stopped at Spencer Spit to clam, crab and fish before moving on. Spencer Spit was homesteaded in the late 1800s by a family named Troxell. It was eventually sold to the Spencers who lived on the property for 50 years. State Parks bought the property in 1967. The stone cellar of the old Spencer house can be seen near the spit. A replica of the original log cabin built by the Spencers for guests is out on the tip of the spit |
JONES ISLAND
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Jones Island is southeast of Stuart Island, just a couple of miles from Deer Harbor and about 1/2 mile off the southwest tip of Orcas Island. It's a delightful little park that is not only a convenient place to stop en route to other destinations, but is also a pleasant place to stay and be mellow.
The island was named by the Wilkes Expedition in 1841, in honor of Captain Jacob Jones, United States Navy, who, while Master Commandant of the sloop-of-war Wasp, captured the British brig Frolic on October 18, 1812. Hike the short trails and watch the blacktailed deer, raccoons and birds. There's water on shore, but like the rest of the islands, some summers the well goes dry for awhile. On the north side of the island, there are buoys and a float with 264 feet of space. Anchoring without the security of a buoy is a bit tricky and may require a stern line. There are also additional buoys on the south side. This island is very popular, so buoys go quickly. |
SUCIA
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Sucia Island is crescent shaped, with sheltered bays, tiny satellite islands and almost-tropical beaches. There are several areas in which to moor, with a total of 51 moorage buoys.
Fossil Bay has 778 feet of moorage floats. On land, there are tidepools and beaches to explore, six miles of hiking trails, and seven distinct plant communities--gnarled junipers, Indian paintbrush and camas lilies on southern slopes give way to red-barked madrona trees and false Solomon's seal; on northern slopes and valley floors find grand fir, big leaf maple, red cedar and sword fern. River otters and harbor seals are common as are harlequin ducks, black oystercatchers, great blue herons and bald eagles. It is probably the most popular park in the San Juans, but still has some nooks and crannies to get away from the bustling crowds in the major dock and buoy areas. |
MATIA ISLAND
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While Matia is 145 acres, only five acres around Rolfe Cove are actual state park land with 680 feet of public waterfront. The rest of the island is National Wildlife Refuge. There are mooring buoys and moorage at the float.
A one mile trail goes from the campground across Matia to the south end cove. The trail loops back on the southwest side-hikers must stay on trail. Matia Island is one of only two islands in the San Juans which are both a marine state park and a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service National Wildlife Refuge. The other is Turn Island State Park near Friday Harbor. All other refuge islands are closed to the public. Matia was named "Isle de Mata" by Spaniard Francisco Eliza in his discovery cruise in 1791. Matia has several meanings in Spanish having to do with lush plant growth. It also means "no protection." Matia is correctly pronounced Ma-TEE-ah, but is more often called May-shahh by the locals. |
PATOS ISLAND
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Patos is the most northerly island in the Pacific Northwest, about four miles north of Walden, five miles north of Orcas. Patos has an isolated feeling different from any other island. It may be because it's perched apart from other islands at the junction of Boundary Pass and the Strait of Georgia, a remote forested rock in the midst of swirling currents, exposed to winters gales.
Patos is small, only 1.3 miles east to west and 1/4 mile north to south. There are several spots on the island where the land rises to 100 feet, the rest of it is gentle hills.
From Alden Point the views are stunning: the Canadian islands, U.S. mainland shores, mountains and an almost constant stream of commercial and recreational vessels. Active Cove is at the west end of Patos, immediately southwest of Alden Point. There are two buoys in Active Cove. |
| STUART ISLAND |
The western most island of the San Juans is Stuart, with Stuart Island State Park near the center of the island: Prevost Harbor on one side and Reid Harbor on the other. In addition to long mooring floats and buoys in both harbors, the park has two floating "islands" for docking at the head of Reid Harbor. Exploring by dinghy is great in both harbors. There's lots of wildlife, including river otters. Water is available on shore and there are several hiking trails to an old one-room log schoolhouse, cemeteries and a lighthouse.
This island was also named by the Wilkes Expedition in 1841, in honor of Frederick D. Stuart, Captain's clerk on the expedition. Across the harbor, a cozy little Satellite Island cove (the land is private property) is a popular, though sometimes slippery (eelgrass) anchorage. If you choose to anchor there, watch out for the rocky reef at the entrance. Stay well to starboard.
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For more information on any of these parks and more, call: Washington State Parks (360) 902-8844
or write to Pump-out Information: A brochure, titled Boater's Guide: Rules, Regulations and Safety Afloat, lists pump-out stations in the state and addresses boating safety and environmental concerns. To get a free copy, call (360) 902-8551, Telephone Device for the Deaf (360) 644-3133 |
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