Come and See

This beautiful Victorian Seaport shows it’s prettiest face to those arriving by sea, as it was once the main port of entry back in the 1800s. On our tour you’ll observe the famous architecture, including the old customs house (now the post office), the bell tower, the courthouse, and the historic downtown area. Across the bay, Whidbey Island, Indian Island and Marrowstone Island are visible, as well as the old tower that once held up a giant metal submarine net that stretched across the bay during WWII! If military history is your thing, we can sail by Fort Worden to see the historic military base and Point Wilson Lighthouse. Bet you can’t spot the bunkers from the water - they are very well hidden. This was part of the ”Triangle of Fire” - the strategic defense of Puget Sound - with Fort Flagler and Fort Casey across the water. On a clear day you’ll see the peaks of the Olympic Mountains and the North Cascades, including three volcanoes (Mount Baker, Mount Glacier and Mount Rainier.)

If watching boats is your thing, there is no better place to be than Port Townsend Bay. Its rare to be the only sailboat out on the bay so we’ll get to look at all the other boats sailing by, as well as rowboats, sailing dinghies, commercial fishing boats, and the Washington State Ferry.

There is always the chance to see wildlife! We love pointing out and sharing what we know about the animals we may see. We carry a full set of binoculars for observing sea birds, including bald eagles, rhinoceros auklets, cormorants, murres, brants, oystercatchers, kingfishers, blue herons, loons, surf scoters, grebes, mergansers and pigeon guillemots.

Seals and baby seal pups are a very common sight, and often we see sea lions hauled out on a buoy, and sometimes, otters! Most days we spot a few harbor porpoise and on a few lucky days we see Minke whales. On the rarest of days we cross paths with orca whales or a feeding gray whale.

There’s a lot to see when you’re out on the water with Sail Port Townsend. Or you can sit back, feel of the sun shining on your face, the wind in your hair and listen to the sound of little waves against the hull.