In 2014 I was in the area of Port Townsend, WA during their annual Wooden Boat Festival. So I went. Unfortunately there’s not much information on the festival (as evidenced by the lackluster Wikipedia page), despite it being one of the largest of its kind in the world. There were hundreds of wooden boats of all sizes. Visitors can walk out onto any of the boats, converse with their owners, inspect their rigging and construction, get all passionate about lives they never lived or whatever else it is that boat enthusiasts do.
Don’t mind my tone. If you’ve read some of my travel stories, you’ll know that I spent 8 months on and around boats trying to hitchhike across the Pacific Ocean. It left me with a sour taste in my mouth and a poor outlook on the idea of cruising–despite the experience being itself timeless.
So I was surprised by the patience of the captain on whose boat we sailed out into the harbor. Here are some photos of the festival.
Some of the old logs at a disused pier in Port Townsend
This is a shot of Mount Baker in the distance, beyond the kiosks of Port Townsend’s festival
A pirate flag on a boat in the harbor
A boat used in the Pirates of the Caribbean films
Port Townsend has beautiful buildings.
A deer grazing in someone’s yard.
Dusk in Port Townsend, Washington.
The harbor during the Wooden Boat Festival
Browsing fall flowers in the market
The Wooden Boat Festival sees some 300 boats and 150 presentations.
Sailing in the bay just in front of town
Seagulls in Washington, not far from Seattle.
Some washed-up seaweed along the shores of the Puget Sound.
Wooden boats at anchor in the bay
Kiosks at the wooden boat festival.
The bow of the sailing ship we went out on.
An old river cruiser at the festival.
Another of the wooden boats gliding through the water
Boats lashed together in the marina.
A shot of one of the sailboats in PT, WA.
During the festival, people could pay to go out on a sailboat.
Boarding the Edmond’s Ferry at the Puget Sound