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Sea Kayak - South Puget Sound: Olympia to Steilacoom

This was a great one-way tour of the southern sound with near perfect conditions of wind and tides.

Will Greenough Will Greenough
March 02, 2020
  • Road suitable for all vehicles

  • Parking for the take-out at Steilacoom is now $8 plus tax and uses a credit card machine. 

    This trip is best done with a long period of outgoing tide combined with southwesterly winds. For this trip, we experienced 5-15kt SW winds for most of the day - a bit calmer than the forecast of 10-20kt, but sufficient for a good push and a fair amount of good surfing.

Near perfect conditions and a strong group made for a really stellar day on the water.

All 5 of us showed up on time by 6am at the Swantown Marina and unloaded and packe the boats.  The rain had ceased before we met, so packing and organizing was much more pleasant than it could have been.  We then left the boats under watch by Dave Stolier, while the rest of us drove 3 cars to the Steilacoom boat launch, leaving two there to transport all back at the end of the trip.  We were able to complete the shuttle and return by 7:30 and were on the water about 7:50am - 10 minutes ahead of schedule.

 Downwind conditions on the first leg to Boston Harbor were fun with lots of surfing opportunities.  I was able to put up the new sail for its maiden voyage for part of the time, but then stowed it as it seemed too much like cheating. We arrived at Boston Harbor in about an hour and twenty minutes - well ahead of schedule.

After a short snack and bio break, the group was eager to get on the water again, so we cut the scheduled 30 minute rest break down to about 20 minutes.  With a good current push through Dana Passage, we arrived at Johnson Point ahead of schedule and still with good energy.  The group elected to push on to the west side of Devils Head where there is a good beach for lunch.

We took closed to 30 minutes at Devils Head for lunch and then pushed on.  The run to Eagle Island was accompanied by some really good downwind surfing opportunities. Lots of fun and a great workout! We then took a 15 minute break at Eagle Island before the last leg.

From Eagle Island, we worked along the shore of Anderson Island, enjoying the calm of the wind protection and a good current push.  We continued along the shore past the ferry landing to Yoman Point and then headed across to Steilacoom.  The group continued to show its strength, continuing at a brisk pace over the last several miles. We arrived at the boat launch at about 2:10pm, almost 2 hours ahead of schedule.

We had no rain the whole day and the last leg was sunny.  The wind stayed consistently in the 5-10kt range with some spells of up to 15kt. With a strong group, this trip would be even better with higher sustained winds.