I loved Port Townsend the first minute I set foot in it. Part of that might have been the hype that came from decades of hearing about this waterfront town that celebrates wooden boats and boat building in general. All the way back in Baja California in my very first year of sailing, I started hearing tales of the art and artisans of Port Townsend.
As we sailed north along Alta California from San Diego to San Francisco, the most recent time, in 2020, we ran into people who applauded our plans to spend a few seasons sailing up in Puget Sound. Almost every one mentioned Port Townsend as a destination, or at least a stop over.
In the winter of 2022, I was sitting on my boat in a peaceful slip in the Vallejo Yacht Club taking a break from figuring out how to get the boat to Puget Sound (we ended up trucking it up there, which is a story in itself, but was a good choice) when I ran into a fellow mid-life woman sailor and we talked about dream destinations. As she strolled away I was laughing to myself—she ‘d not only mentioned how hard it was to find marina slips in Puget Sound, but she’d also mentioned Port Townsend.
Image Credit: Jeff Huth/istockphoto.
The Port Townsend Yacht Club
Down below I fired up my computer, hooked up to the wifi and searched for the Port Townsend Yacht Club. Yes, they had an agreement with our Southern California yacht club, and yes they had a reciprocal slip available. (Reciprocal slips are meant for one or two day stays, usually free to sailors from recognized yacht clubs.) I had already been working out month-long stays for our sailboat in the San Francisco Bay area now for about six months—would it be possible to do that up in Port Townsend in the fall? I sent an email to the Port Townsend Yacht Club and soon I was sending off a check to the yacht club for four months rent in the coming fall and winter.
The summer of 2022 flew by as we explored the towns, cities and water holes of Puget Sound, poking into every little bay and Marine State Park from Olympia up to Poulsbo.
Soon we were approaching Port Townsend. As soon as we docked and secured our boat, we went out walking to check out the neighborhood. We’d visited PT before but we’d come by car, which is a very different thing, of course.
Image Credit: satamedia / istockphoto.
Nature Preserves and Seaside Breweries
Across from the commercial shipping basin where our boat was docked, we spotted a West Marine store, which is always a good sign for boaters (soon we’d found a local chandlery too, for all the little bits and pieces every sailor needs to replace more often than she thought). Not far away was a Mexican restaurant, Hacienda Tizapan, that turned out to be as good as it smelled. I sampled the chips and salsa (both freshly made), Russel ordered an IPA from Port Townsend Brewing Company— another good sign—and soon we were chowing down on delicious shrimp fajitas.
A block away was a convenience store with a gas station that carried diesel, something every boater needs nearby, and across the street was a Safeway grocery store. A co-op grocery was only two blocks from there. Even better, between the two stores was the Kai Tai Lagoon Nature Park and Preserve. I stepped off the busy street and into the preserve and fell in love at first sight. It isn’t a very big place—you can walk from one end to the other in less than five minutes, if walking so quickly wouldn’t defeat the whole purpose of it—but the perfect little chunk of waterfront nature is the ideal neighborhood park for morning walks and sunset ambles. One of my favorite touches was the picture book for children that was presented page by page on plaques along the lagoon front walkway. I found out that it changed monthly, which was even better.
Image Credit: WomanCake.
First Impressions
Our first foray into Port Townsend proper was the next day. We walked a block to the bus stop near the Safeway where we took the free shuttle into “downtown” PT. The bus also goes to “uptown” or you can access uptown by walking up a steep flight of stairs from the charming fountain park near the historic Bishop Hotel. At the top of the long staircase is yet another plaque with the history of staid and proper uptown and the racy waterfront downtown —site of brothels and taverns. Both sections of town now abound with eateries, boutiques, sweet shops, art galleries, and uptown even has a gourmet market with fresh sushi daily, Aldritch’s.
We dined at the Old Whiskey Mill which soon became a favorite, along with the more high-end and lovely dining room known as Finistere, and we had a breakfast burrito the next day at the homey and cozy Blue Moose Cafe, very handily located in the Boat Haven boat yard.
As the days went by in Port Townsend we explored more and more, finding the working boat museum and world-class gift shop that is the Maritime Center and the epitome of movie houses that is the charming Rose Theater. I browsed through the antique shops and gift stores on my own, as well as venturing into the library and each of the two bookstores. Yes there was more than one bookstore, which I always consider a miracle.
Image Credit: WomanCake.
A Friendly Town
Speaking of miraculous, the vibe in the town is super friendly and welcoming, something you don’t always find in a place that attracts a year-round stream of tourists.
People smile when they give me directions, drivers wait at corners and wave me across streets, and the bus drivers often give me snippets of history along with the ride.
In fact, most people I encounter in Port Townsend seem to see me, a petite woman in my early sixties, as worthy of their attention. And it isn’t just in shops where you’d expect the owner to be focused on sales, but everywhere I go. I have been engaged in conversation at the bus stop, listened to thoughtfully in the library, and even consulted by another shopper in the book store who saw me pick up a copy of a popular new book.
I was not able to give her a positive review of that one (I am not a big Sally Rooney fan) but I did turn her on to a brilliant local author, Anna Quinn.
The thing that impressed me the most was the reception I got in the boatyard, the chandlery, and the marina office. For once, I was not seen as the wife of the boat owner, I was treated as a co-owner, which of course I am. My opinions about products and services are hard-won after 36 years of living and working on small sailboats, and for once, I don’t need to argue that point. People in the PT boating world, men and women, assume I know what item I am asking for and how to use it—they save the ‘splaining for someone who actually asks how to use something.
Image Credit: TommL.
A Woman of the Working Waterfront
It turns out there’s a really good reason for all this respect coming at me here in Port Townsend—the place is chock full of women who run businesses, and many, but not all of them, are in the marine trades. Yep, the Women of the Working Waterfront, as the group was dubbed, are a force to be reckoned with in PT, in fact, in March of 2022, almost 200 women gathered on the City Dock to have their photo taken for the Port of Port Townsend’s economic Port Report. From Diana Talley, who is counted as the first female shipwright in PT since way back in 1990, to the current head shipwright at Boat Haven Boat Works, Esther. The Board Chair of the local Northwest Maritime, the local Marine Center, is a woman as are six of the eleven people in charge at the Northwest Marine Trade Association. And the women who make Port Townsend go are not just involved in boats and marine trades. The head of Finance for the Port is a woman, so are all the administrators of the local Historical society and museum. (About 30 percent of businesses in Jefferson County, home of Port Townsend, are woman-owned and operated, which I love.)
So, whenever I walk down the street in Port Townsend, whether it is on Water Street in the town’s historic downtown neighborhood, or striding across the busy small town that is the Boat Haven boatyard and marina, I will carry my head high, knowing I am one of the Women of the Working Waterfront.
This article originally appeared on WomanCake.com and was syndicated by MediaFeed.org.
Image Credit: Depositphotos.
