Tour the Puget Sound
May 28th, 2009
Seattle’s aquatic surroundings lend the city its vintage maritime feel, and many of the area’s best attractions require steady sea legs despite being just a short drive from the airport and only a few minutes from downtown accommodations. Enjoy the local seafood, tour a Naval Destroyer, or act out your favorite Free Willy moments in the Puget Sound.
San Juan Safaris
Orca-spotting is a different breed of whale watching: the erstwhile “killer whales” leap into the air and seem to get kicks out of entertaining eager people. Safari patrons can choose to tour the San Juan Islands area in water taxis, kayaks, or, most excitingly, seaplanes. The company reputedly employs a network of whale spotters whose diligence ensures that tour participants have a very good chance of seeing orcas in action. Like many Seattle-area attractions, the Safaris’ peak season is May-September.
USS Turner Joy
This Naval Destroyer participated in the Gulf of Tonkin Incident and extensively in the Vietnam War. It’s now a museum ship, the bastion of the Bremerton Historic Ships Association. Moored in the Puget Sound, it’s regularly open for guided tours to interested visitors. True students of maritime history might want to book an overnight stay in the crew quarters, but for most visitors the 90-minute tour will suffice.
Ride the Ducks
Everyone knows the Ducks, the amphibious World War II vehicles that haunt cities with major waterways. Seattle’s Ducks follow the familiar formula, but the Puget Sound’s sheer abundance makes it a better trip than most. Enthusiastic captains guide patrons through downtown, Pike Place, and Pioneer Square on the 90-minute tour, and they typically encourage a healthy dose of rowdiness. That is, after all, why they hand out those “quacker” noisemakers. This tour is great for kids, though not for curmudgeons.
Chittenden Locks
Also known as the Ballard Locks, these shipping mechanicals are an impressive complex designed to regulate sea levels, salt water content, and guide incoming boats according to the levels of the Puget Sound. Most interestingly for visitors, the Locks include a “fish ladder” where salmon congregate. Interested parties can stop by the viewing room to catch the various salmon varietals on their grueling reproductive journeys. After educating yourself on the birds and bees of the fish community, retire to the adjacent Carl S. English Jr. Botanical Gardens.
Tillicum Village
Summers in Seattle offer visitors the Northwest’s best weather, and Tillicum Village tours run May-September in celebration. In the course of the four hour tour, each guest eats a cup of raw clams and a fire-and-cedar cooked Chinook salmon steak, as well as the dubious-sounding “chocolate salmon dessert.” We’re not sure if it’s a fishy truffle or a salmon-shaped confection, but either way it’s a Northwest original. Dancers in traditional Northwest Native American costume perform while you digest, and thereafter you’re allowed forty-five minutes of recess to watch artisans at work, peruse the gift shop, or walk the beach.
Before you tour Puget Sounds, take an online tour through Hotels Cheap to find the best hotel deals in and around Seattle.
Categories: Destination Guides
