Boating

Port Madison on Bainbridge Island--a Fall Destination

Port Madison on Bainbridge Island's north end.

Which, for many means that our cruising will be limited to weekends and holidays.

But there are terrific places to go by boat near Seattle so it’s really not that bad. And cruising close to home opens up new places to discover. We don’t have to go to the San Juans or beyond to have a great time.

Bainbridge Island, for instance, has several good anchorages to consider for a short—and rewarding cruise.

The island, due west of Seattle, is over nine miles long and two to three miles wide. Two good bays anchorages are on the east shores, one on the west, and one on the north, plus a state park with mooring buoys on the northeast shore. Port Madison harbor on the north shore is our destination. It is about five miles northwest of Shilshole Bay, home of the largest recreational boat marina in the greater Seattle area.

Over a mile long, the bay zig-zags southwest into the island, ending in shallow Hidden Cove. Anchoring is possible almost anywhere in the harbor in charted depths of 6 to 21 feet with a mud bottom. Private vessels are anchored or moored at floats here.

A Seattle Yacht Club outstation and the Port Madison Yacht Club are both along the south shore of the harbor. In its early days, membership in the Port Madison club required owning a sailboat that floated at least 15 minutes.

Jo Bailey and Carl Nyberg.

(The name of Port Madison can be a bit confusing for those new to the area. The small bay and community of Port Madison are off the large body of water also named Port Madison, which is between the north shore of Bainbridge Island and the south shore of a lobe of Kitsap Peninsula with the communities of Indianola and Jefferson Beach.) Port Madison is a favorite gunkhole (anchorage) for many, despite the fact there are no shoreside facilities, no guest moorage or public buoys and limited public access to the island. It’s simply a quiet, well-protected, peaceful place to anchor, which is what we love.

The entrance is about 100 yards wide for about 2/10ths of a mile, and then it’s too shallow for comfort.

On our first sailing date over seven years ago, we short-tacked our sailboat Scheherazade against a southerly wind into Port Madison at low tide. It can be done with "local knowledge." Since Carl had lived in Port Madison for a number of years he knew how far we could push our luck on each tack. It may have been a test of our sailing compatability. We didn’t go around, and we’re still together!

Carl lived in Port Madison during the 1960s, anchored his 50 foot yawl Winsome in the bay, and was a member of Port Madison Yacht Club. He tells the story that many years ago a collection of obnoxious pleasure boaters would arrive regularly in the harbor, rafting up to one of their anchored boats. A loud, drunken party followed. At dusk one evening some local lads swam to the rafted group on the start of an ebb (outgoing) tide, pushing a good-sized log ahead of them. When they reached the rafted boats, they quietly raised the anchor, tied it off to the log, and silently swam back to shore. The rafted boats were last seen in the moonlight gently drifting out of the harbor on the ebb with a south wind, never to return to Port Madison.

Road ends at Lafayette Avenue, Broom Street and Gordon Lane allow public access, making it possible to row ashore and walk along the roads. We suggest hunting as you walk for the wonderful "giant green frog," especially if you have kids. If you do go ashore please keep pets and kids under control and respect and keep off private property. (Island maps showing these accesses are available in Winslow.)

Long before pioneers arrived on Bainbridge, there was Native American village in Port Madison. A large sawmill was built in the mid-1800s, and by 1860 there were ten families and more than 100 employees in the mill or logging the island. The village had a shipyard, general store, school, blacksmith and carpenter shops, brass and iron foundry and a machine shop. Port Madison was the county seat of Kitsap County until 1893.

By the early 1900s the mill was shut down, a summer colony was planned and wealthy Seattleites spent summers in the harbor, often sailing over in their yachts.

Over the years Port Madison has gradually changed from a summer community to year round residences.

Jo and Carl are authors of two cruising guides, Gunkholing in South Puget Sound and Gunkholing in the San Juan Islands. They are native Seattleites who have been sailing in the northwest for a combined over 100 years. They can be reached at gunkholing@earthlink.net.

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