port townsend>>coupeville CompaA guide toss Puget Sound living Washington State Ferries DESTINATIONS EMERALD CITY SIGHTS Museums, restaurants and nightlife SEASIDE COMMUNITIES Beaches, parks and family fun SPECTACULAR SAN JUAN ISLANDS Where to go, what to see, where to stay BONUS: Farmers’ Markets Guide 2012 ISSUE WASHINGTON STATE FERRIES MAGAZINE // 1 compass magazine >> Leslie Forsberg inside Washington State Ferries 4 www.wsdot.wa.gov/ferries Seattle 10 Bainbridge 13 FOUR-DIAMOND Compass Bremerton 17 A guide to Puget Sound living Edmonds 19 Published by Philips Publishing Group for Washington state Ferries Kingston 20 REWARDS PublisheR Peter Philips (206) 284-8285 Anacortes 21 [email protected] Indulge in the luxury & excitement of Tulalip. AdveRtisinG sAles San Juan Islands 21 Experience impeccable service, unrivaled rewards and heidi Witt 206-284-8285 [email protected] THE MOST CASH-BACK of any Washington casino. Mukilteo 26 editoR leslie Forsberg www.leslieforsberg.com Whidbey Island 26 ARt diReCtoR Marilyn esguerra Compass Magazine, the official publication of Port Townsend 29 Washington state Ferries, is published by Philips Publishing Group and distributed on all Washington state Ferries.and terminals no part of this magazine may be Fauntleroy 31 reproduced without the publisher’s written permission. Vashon Island 31 Southworth 32 2201 West Commodore Way 206.284.8285 Seattle, WA 98199 Point Defiance/Ruston 33 www.philipspublishing.com 888.272.1111 TULALIPRESORT.COM WASHINGTON STATE FERRIES MAGAZINE // 3 washington state ferries >> washington state ferries >> What’s in a Name? A Proud Legacy Sea, Sound or Strait The complicated marine Few areas enjoy a geographic setting as visually memorable as Seattle and the Puget Sound landscape that Washington State shares with British region. Snowcapped mountains—Mount Rainier, the Cascades, Mount Baker, the Olympics— Columbia is roughly divided into benchmark the horizon south, east, west and north. The emerald waters of Seattle’s Elliott three main bodies: Strait of Juan de Fuca is the Bay lead the eye onward to the azure depths of Puget Sound. The glistening urban towers of long arm of the Pacific Ocean Seattle’s downtown reflect the high light of long summer days, and hark back to the towering that reaches eastward 95 miles from Cape Flattery to forests that grew here two centuries ago. Whidbey Island. It is a major international shipping channel, SAILING THE SALISH SEA serving the ports of Seattle, Today America’s largest ferry system Tacoma and Vancouver, as well operates 22 ferries serving 20 terminals as the refineries near Anacortes, Bellingham and Tsawassen, B.C. on ten routes. More than 22 million passengers ride the sapphire waters Puget Sound is the term for the of our Sound every year, ranging from small inland sea—also called a saltwater estuary system, an commuters who stream into those Robert Demar underwater fjord system, and a downtown Seattle office towers five Cruising through the San Juan Islands aboard a Washington State ferry is one of our state’s most scenic excursions. large bay with many channels days a week, to international visitors and inlets—that stretches south travel destinations with charming in other areas. Ferries managers are marveling at the sight of our native orcas from the Strait of Juan de Fuca towns, beautiful countryside and relaxed currently investigating adoption of to Olympia. Though it’s only in the channels around the San Juan atmospheres. Past the San Juans, Sidney, liquefied natural gas (LNG) propulsion 100 miles long, it contains 1,332 Islands. miles of shoreline. B.C. is the gateway to Canada’s Vancouver systems for future operations. Natural Our ten routes connect the two Island, a rich destination sought by gas is an abundant hydrocarbon in North The Strait of Georgia separates sides of Puget Sound on a daily basis. Vancouver Island from the travelers from around the world. America; LNG is thus an economical and Though the largest share of ferry riders British Columbia mainland, and environmentally friendly fuel already in board at Colman Dock, in downtown FULL SPEED AHEAD generally lies between the north widespread use by public-transit systems, end of the San Juan Islands Seattle, several other routes are key Heritage is a fine foundation, but the largely on buses. Using LNG saves and the Discovery Islands, near transportation links as well. future beckons as well: Construction money, significantly reduces combustion Campbell River, B.C. It’s about From downtown Seattle, boats reach has begun on the first of our fleet’s 150 miles long. The deep golden rays of a summer sunset illuminate a ferry on the Seattle-Bainbridge run. Kitsap Tours emissions and supports American energy Bremerton and Bainbridge Island, two newest boats, a 144-car vessel that can producers. Salish Sea is the term used by very different but equally interesting be deployed on almost any of our routes, ecologists, oceanographers and ashington State Ferries has sailed Dock, and much of Alaskan Way north The future is already here on several communities on the Olympic side of the and will provide better fuel consumption, environmental advocates to this sparkling inland sea for six and south from there, is built on Golden of our boats and in terminals where W Sound. Vashon Island is served by boats cleaner emissions, enhanced passenger define the whole marine system decades, using and respecting a natural State castoff dirt and rocks. Along this we have begun phasing in a state-of- that includes the three bodies of departing from West Seattle’s Fauntleroy safety and comfort, better ADA access resource that has been the centerpiece shore, the long, hand-carved canoes the-art visual paging system. Liquid- water above. The Salish were the dock, a half-hour south of downtown and reduced wake and noise. The $147 original indigenous inhabitants of human life here for millennia. Since of the Northwest’s First Peoples were crystal-display monitors provide our Seattle; departures from here also cross million project is underway at Vigor of most of this area, and just humans first arrived here more than supplanted in 1852 by the jaunty vessels passengers real-time information on to Southworth, on the Kitsap Peninsula, Industrial shipyards in Seattle, and as their heritage spans borders 10,000 years ago, Puget Sound has of the “Mosquito Fleet,” thousands of system operations, enhance our current both national and geographic, gateway to communities such as the supports more than 500 jobs around been both a pathway and a livelihood. boats ranging from tiny aquatic jitneys to broadcast announcement systems, so do the flora and fauna, tidal aptly named Port Orchard. Edmonds is Puget Sound. The new ferry will enter The bustling waterfront of Seattle’s large sternwheelers that carried residents, and offer hearing-impaired customers waters and climatic systems of the departure point for Kingston, gateway service in 2014. the region. The resident orca downtown and port were once the locale visitors and goods back and forth across the chance to receive vital information to the Hood Canal Bridge and the north Our existing Washington State pods that are so emblematic of for thriving villages of indigenous Salish the Sound. In the late 19th and early 20th visually. This system won a national the region, for instance, travel Olympic Peninsula. Mukilteo sailings Ferries boats are among the most peoples who relied on salmon and cedar century, these routes linked virtually award earlier this year for its innovative freely throughout the Salish reach the south end of Whidbey Island; technologically advanced vessels in the as the mainstays of life. Tall conifers every wharf from south of Olympia to the approach to information conveyance. Sea. Pacific salmon, Puget Sound from there, the Coupeville terminal is world, with electronic guidance systems octopus, geoduck clams—all are marched up the hillsides behind, and Canadian border, and were the primary Washington State Ferries has come the departure point for historic Port enabling operations in poor-visibility found throughout these waters. these caught the eyes of tall-ship means of travel in a region where roads a long way since the state stepped in to Townsend. conditions that 60 years ago would have Advocates of the term “Salish captains sailing north from California were poor or nonexistent. meet public transportation needs back Sea” thus favor it as a reminder Our northernmost terminal, at forced ships back to dock. Our guidance seeking timber for San Francisco. That’s the proud legacy Washington in 1951. Just as our captains must scan that all of us who live or travel Anacortes, is the departure point engineers continually keep abreast of In the ensuing trade, the ballast that State Ferries has carried for 60 years a wide area as they guide our boats, we here enjoy the gifts of one for some of the best-known island innovations in safety and navigation. special place—no matter the was offloaded at the foot of Seattle’s hills since the state acquired the assets of are proud to look both back in time and destinations in North America. The Though safety is our most important lines drawn on maps. became today’s waterfront—Washington the last Mosquito Fleet company, Puget forward into the future while we sail the four San Juan Islands—San Juan, Lopez, operational mission, new technologies State Ferries headquarters at Colman Sound Navigation, in 1951. wonderful inland sea that’s our home. Orcas and Shaw—are all lovely, peaceful offer great potential for improvements 4 // WASHINGTON STATE FERRIES MAGAZINE WASHINGTON STATE FERRIES MAGAZINE // 5 washington state ferries >> washington state ferries >> Meet Your Captain Meet Your Captain Ty Anderson serves aboard the MV Tacoma, on the Chief Engineer Seattle-Bainbridge run; he’s been a captain for 17 years.