SAVE THE DATE!
Memorial Day Mystery Bay Raft-Up. May 28-30, 2022
Please join us for this jam-packed joint-venture 3-day weekend cruise to Mystery Bay. Raft up with other STYC & CYC members or anchor on your own and visit from your dinghy. Get to know some fellow sailors in some collaborative on-shore activities, all of which are optional. On the docket: a socially distanced outdoor BBQ potluck; goat farm tour, a winery tasting/picnic; a human-powered dinghy race. Unfortunately the Nordland General Store experienced a devastating fire in Nov 2020. It is unlikely they will be up and running again by May, but the traditional holiday Tractor Parade at noon on Sunday is looking like a very good possibility. Please provision accordingly for the entire weekend.
COVID safety:Masking-up and socially distancing at this stage of the pandemic is state encouraged but now a personal choice. If covid numbers should increase significantly prior to this cruise please watch for further email communications from us. Always remember to please be considerate of others. Up-to-date vaccinations or negative covid test highly recommended.
Navigation: The entry to Mystery Bay can be tricky. Please source out & refer all your own tide & chart information you will need to navigate the winding narrow entrance safely. The below pictures are only for a visual location reference and are NOT TO BE RELIED UPON!!
Cruise Reservation Sign-up: Please sign-up on our STYC website for the cruise so that we can manage a boat & head count. This will be an anchoring/raft-up event. That said, there will also be activities that we will need individual sign-ups for actual head-counts. There is a lone dock, however space cannot be counted on this weekend.
About Mystery Bay: All but hidden on the west side of Marrowstone Island, Mystery Bay State Park offers a great escape for visitors arriving by water. Boaters can raft up or lay anchor and stroll along the grassy and gravelly shoreline or enjoy the inlet’s pristine waters. Bring along a kayak or paddle board for daytime recreation on the water. There is an organic goat farm that offers tours on making goat cheese, a renowned island vineyard for picnicking & wine tasting. Several activities will be jointly planned. Take in the Olympic mountain views from the shoreline picnic area about 80-100 yards from the raft-up. Cook up your own oysters and clams in one of three fire rings and enjoy an island sunset before heading back to your boat.Fort Flagler is approximately 2 miles from Mystery Bay (about a 15 minute dinghy ride). There is a dinghy dock to park your boat while you go exploring. Tour and explore a significant coastal defense fort established more than a century ago to guard the entrance to Puget Sound.
Cruise line-up:
Saturday May 28 - Sail north, entrance low tide @ 10:37 am - High tide @ 5:59 pm
Sunday May 29 - 10 am goat farm option - we will advise of tour payment options
12 noon Tractor Parade (??)
2 pm Wine tasting @ Vineyard
2 pm - Blindfolded Digny Race
Potluck BBQ dinner
Monday May 30 - Sail south home, low tide@ 11:33 am, -1.53 ft
Fort Flagler State Park
Located on the Northern tip of Marrowstone Island, this spectacular park has more than 5 miles of hiking trails on its 1,450+ acres. Facilities include picnic tables, 117 campsites, boat launch, mooring facilities, and a group camp.
Hiking, boating, fishing, clamming, and hang-gliding are popular activities. Accommodations are also available in three former WWII barracks buildings with kitchen and dining facilities and five furnished vacation houses for rent are available (Reservations (888) 226-7688). A museum interprets the history of this one-time coastal defense fort. The Beachcomber Café concession offers food and espresso drinks near the lower campground.
Park Contact: (360) 385-1259fort.flagler@parks.wa.gov
Beachcomber Cafe
Summer’s not complete without an ice cream treat, an espresso drink, or iced mocha! Come to the Beachcomber Cafe at Fort Flagler State Park and enjoy the view from the deck. Grill, kites, snacks and more.
Contact: Jim and Maj-Britt Peacock (360) 385-7637 majbrittpeacock@gmail.com
Mystery Bay State Park
During Prohibition, smuggling alcohol from Canada was a profitable and somewhat honored occupation in the remote waters of northwest Washington. Sequestered between Marrowstone and Indian Islands, Kilisut Harbor was one refuge used by smugglers to evade Coast Guard vessels. The smugglers’ shallow draft boats were readily hidden in the overhanging trees at a small bay near the end of the harbor, and their regular disappearance here was categorized by the Coast Guard as “mysterious” hence the name for the bay.
The park is designated as a marine recreation area with its facilities primarily for boaters. A pier leads out to a long float that is available for overnight mooring facilities. Mooring buoys are also available. A single lane launch ramp drops down gently to the sloping beach north of the floats.
Clams and oysters can be found on the beach at low tide and offshore crabbing is usually fruitful during the designated season.
Contact: (360) 385-1259https://www.parks.wa.gov/550/Mystery-Bay
Mystery Bay Farm
Small-scale, artisan goat dairy. Tours available by reservation.
Contact: Scott Brinton or Rachael Van Laanen (360) 774-0675
info@mysterybayfarm.com or http://www.mysterybayfarm.com
Mystery Bay Seafood Catering
Catering fresh seafood dinners and home delivery of seafood products (seafood chowder, clams, oysters and mussels)
Contact: Leonard Johnson - (360) 390-8134
mysterybayseafood@gmail.com or http://www.mysterybayseafood.com
Marrowstone Vineyard
Visit Marrowstone Vineyards where wine is as beautiful and unique as the view. Family owned and locally loved, Marrowstone Vineyards is a treasured boutique winery overlooking the cascades and Puget Sound. Explore their selection with a tasting, sip on a glass, or pop open a bottle on their deck or lounge in their lovely meadow with views of their grapevines and Salish Sea behind.
Contact: 360-385-9608https://www.marrowstonevineyards.com/
Tractor Days Parade
Traditionally, every Memorial Day weekend the island residents bring their tractors to parade them in front of the old Nordland General Store. However the store is being re-fit after a nasty fire a couple of years ago and not open. Word on the grapevine is that the parade will commence this year...
For further information please feel free to click or contact any of the below:
Fort Flagler State Park: https://www.parks.wa.gov/508/Fort-Flagler
Marrowstone Vineyard: https://www.marrowstonevineyards.com/
Mystery Bay Seafood Catering: http://www.mysterybayseafood.com
Goat Farm, Cheese & Tour: https://www.mysterybayfarm.com/
NOT TO BE USED for depth measurements. Refer to your own source & zoom-in on it.
