Boating in Seattle - anyone here familiar?
 

Do any Fodorites boat in the Seattle area?

We may be relocated to the Pacific Northwest and would like to live in a place with good boating within an easy drive. We are used to inland lakes and have a 20 foot bow rider, so it is not a big boat.

This might seem like an idiotic question seeing that there is so much water around Seattle, but can/do smaller boats use the waters easily? Are there places to launch for the day (and then park) with little trouble? What about the water - is it often calm enough for a smaller boat like ours?

Any insight would be appreciated!

I'm not a boater, but I did just go out on a small sailboat for the first time. We launched at the University of Washington (skipper was an alumni), but there are plenty of public launches in Seattle. I see little boats all the time, especially at Lake Union (which is very near my house).

Here's a link that might help:

http://www.seattle.gov/parks/boats/shorelineaccess.htm

When we lived in the area, we used to sail out of Oak Harbor. You can go down to Coupeville and get off there and use the restroom and get a bite to eat. We were always in a little 22 footer.

There are dozens, maybe hundreds of places where you can put your boat in the water - fresh on Lakes Union, Washington or Sammamish, or umpteen places on salt water on Puget Sound, or via the Ship Canal between the fresh water lakes and the salt, using the Ballard locks. There's everything from kayaks to jet skis to flat bottom houseboats to ski boats to day sailers to 150'+ staysail schooners to Coast Guard cutters on the waters hereabouts. IIRC highest per capita boat ownership rate in the world.

We have 2 boats, a kayak and a single scull.

Take a look at a map and find Lake Washington, just east of SEattle. This large lake is great for boating---people use it for sailing, kayaking, waterskiing, rowing, fishing (not too successfully), jeetskiing, and just plain putzing around. There are an number of very liveable communities around the lake, as well as an island in the middle of it. Docks and boat ramps in many spots.

You can access the saltwater of Puget Sound via the locks, and there are many protedted areas to expore there as well.

This is a great place to have a 20' boat.

I don't have a boat and can't specifically help, but living in Seattle I'm telling you there are boats EVERYwhere... Lake Union, Lake Washington, Puget Sound. Big, small, everything in between. I had friends kept one down at the Leshi docks on Lake Washington.

Are you specifically relocating to Seattle? There are so many places to boat, you could live just about anywhere. And I think there always has to be public access.

Wonderful,wonderful,wonderful!!! Thank you all!

We are trying to figure out just where to relo - can be anywhere in WA,OR,ID,CA,NV.

We HAVE to be within an hour or so of an airport, but WANT to be somewhere where we can bring our boat.

BTW, DH would like me to point out our boat is 21 AND 1/2 feet. :)

Here's an old B & W picture of a typical Seattle boating season opening day in Portage Bay (part of Lake Union.)

http://www.huskycrew.org/19782.jpg

Ah, now that brings back memories Gardyloo! Long, long ago one of my student worker jobs at UW was on a barge the Dept of Oceanography kept moored. (I keypunched tide tables--brrr!) but the advantage was that on opening day we got invited down to sit on the barge and watch the festivities.

Not only a great place for a 20 footer but if you want to vacation in B,C. check out Desolation Sound on the Sunshine Coast. I trailered a 16' up there. Seattle is a boating paradise. The Eastside would be where I'd relocate to. I lived in Redmond and Woodinville. To Seatac it was 30-45 minutes on 405.

Wait a minute - I thought Garlyloo was kidding!

What is opening day?? Here we boat as soon as the water isn't hard anymore :)

If DH accepts this job it seems as if Seattle is a good choice for us although I am a bit afraid of the weather ( and the housing prices, LOL)

Well, the water never freezes here for one thing :-)

It's the *Opening Day of Boating Season*. And it is a BIG deal around here. Honestly though now that you mention it... I realize I have no idea what that means -haha!

WA,OR,ID,CA,NV - wow that's a huge geographic area to choose from. Quite a task to sort your options, all 5 states have coastline & or lakes for boating (and airports).

You should be WAY more afraid of the housing prices than the weather!!!

(I've lived here 25 years now and love it).

Currently outside my window, is sunny, clear, light breeze, supposed to hit 70 today.

Right, Suze. Channel 7 recently had a special on weather that, among other things, noted that Seattle is 25th in the nation for annual rainfall. Cloudy days????...let's change the subject.

"Opening Day" is just an excuse for a lot of boat people to put on strange clothing and have a parade. I believe the Seattle Yacht Club is the main perp. It also coincides with the first regatta for the UW crew team, and everyone also puts their weird watercraft in the drink (Aquacars etc.) so everyone can admire their quirkiness. A lot of beer is consumed.

Believe me, there are boats in the water 365/365 regardless of weather or dark of night.

Of course, you could bring your boat and live on a houseboat and paddle to work.

Hey Suze - you are 100% correct. The hardest part of this whole promotion situation is the fact that we have so large of an area to choose from!

The two other states in his region would be Alaska and Hawaii but they are off the table for relo.

I am trying to find the area that has everything for us, not too easy. Housing in our area is reasonable (but taxes are high) and I do have a little sticker shock over what we would get in many parts of the west for our dollar. Our budget for a home is generous by our standards, but not by yours, LOL.

PS - Opening day sounds fun!!

And no one mentioned SeaFair! http://www.seafair.com/ Talk about consumption of Beer! Housing and taxes are high because of how beautiful it is, things to do among other things.