Looking for marinas in Portland, Seattle, Vancouver

[rhinogirls3]

We are looking for a marina in the Portland, Seattle or Vancouver (WA) area. Not necessarily for live aboard, but that might be ok. Our problem is right now we live in Idaho, so it's hard to know where to start looking. The large marinas are online, but I'm sure there are many more out there.

We have a 46' catamaran (25' beam). Anyone got ideas?

Any help or direction would be greatly appreciated.

Rhinogirl

[Moonfish]

Hi Rhinogirl - I lived in Portland my whole life until just over three years ago, and lived aboard there the last two years. A few marinas to look into in the greater Portland/Vancouver area are Rocky Pointe, Scappoose Marina, McCuddy's Marina, and Port of Camas Marina. Columbia Crossings is a "chain" of nice marinas, but I don't know if they accommodate larger cats.

Hopefully someone else will remember a few of the other marinas. Good luck!

[EDonWalsh]

Most of Seattle area has long waiting lists. Blaine Marina, which is actually run by port of Bellingham, WA is relatively new, clean and a Type V throw away from the Canadian border - hello Gulf Island cruising. Their wait list is shorter than Bellingham, but I don't know how long you would have to wait for an end tie to open up.

[TheRoutens]

RinoGirl,

My family and I are living in Vancouver WA and have researched the liveaboard marinas in the greater Portland area. There are two that are on the Columbia: Tomahawk Island in Portland and McCuddys in St. Helens. As far as I know, these are the only two that allow any kind of liveaboard in the area. There may be a few on the Willamette river, but you'd have to have some bridges in downtown Portland raised if you wanted to go anywhere in a sailboat.

We got a lot of info about the Tomahawk Island marina. They seem to be very friendly and open to LA's. If I remember correctly a LA slip for a 40' would be around $400/mo. That includes the LA fee and gives access to showers, ice and coin-op laundry.

McCuddy's in St. Helens is on the Columbia Slough and would be about a 20-30 minute commute to Portland by car. It has some really nice people there, but not much to do around the marina itself.

Hope this helps,

- Mike

[CaptKermie]

Well Rhino, there are 3 of them right at the 49th parallel. As EDonWalsh mentioned Blaine Harbour is quite nice and I have visited and launched there a few times. Right across the bay from Blaine is Drayton Harbour with Semiahmoo Marina. If you wish to be further out in the strait, Point Roberts Marina is in a prime location for sailing the San Juans & Gulf Islands. Only draw back is that it is on a peninsula through which the only land access is through Canada then back into USA on the peninsula so you need a passport or Nexus pass. I moor there in summer and have seen a few cats, they usually have up to 30' sips available year around, anything more is a waitlist.
If you buy the latest Waggoner cruising guide for th PNW you will find listings for all the marinas here with full discriptions and pictures. Anacortes is another one that comes to mind within close proximity to the San Juans. The PNW is one of the worlds premiere sailing destinations.