Cruise west across Puget Sound, through Port Madison and Agate Passage, or from the south up Port Orchard, past the US Navy's underwater test facility (be sure to go very slow passing!), missing the tall concrete piling, you'll now be in Dog Fish Bay, known now as Liberty Bay. A cruise worth making!
Liberty Bay is a quiet, tranquil bay with three marinas. The first you come to is the Liberty Bay Marina, a private marina which is simply a wonderful, friendly and very well managed and maintained facility, one of the best I've seen anywhere on Puget Sound. We moored there for a few years until we sold our Richardson this past Fall.
Next in is the Poulsbo Yacht Club marina, and then comes the Port of Poulsbo and there it is, the City of Poulsbo. For many the port is the front porch (gangway?) to the City of Poulsbo. Lots of well kept guest docks, although 40' is their maximum slip size which means you have to stern-in if you're 47' as we were. Of course, with luck, you might snag an end tie at one of the two guest docks. The port recently lost a special election to expand the size of the its district to include areas of Liberty Bay beyond just the city limits, a move that would have increased the Port's taxing base. While there was opposition, strong outside the city limits, I can't help but think such an increase would actually have benefited the whole area.
Those of us who live on the north end of Kitsap County are justly proud of our marinas, the Port of Kingston (subject of another posting) being another one. Poulsbo, with its authentic Scandinavian-with-a-maritime DNA is delightful. We've come to know many in the area: Hal and Helen Hoover, retired educators and much, much more, who have stories galore of the area; Jim Metteer, master boatwright and boat builder (whose workshop is a boater's dream), and Leigh Metteer, artist extraordinaire and organizer of the annual Arts in the Woods tour; to name but a few.
Sounding like a chamber of commerce pitch? Well, we simply like the place and thought it worth touting. Central Market, Sluy's Bakery, the many shops along Viking Ave, JJ's Fish House, all make it well worth a visit. So . . . .
Velkommen til Poulsbo!
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