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 Admiralty
Inlet Marine Stewardship Area
Whidbey Island's west-side beaches
face some of the stiffest winds and highest energy
wave action in Puget Sound. In the 19th century
tall ships rode the winds into Admiralty Inlet and
Puget Sound. Today, ferry boats from Port Townsend
battle tricky long-shore currents to harbor at Keystone.
Kelp
photo© Jim Ramaglia
Salmon follow the oxygen-rich Whidbey shore as they
migrate to sea and back. Sport-fishers intercept
them from beach and boats. Orcas, gray whales, sea
lions, birds and geoducks use thebeaches, marine
waters and tidelands of Admiralty Inlet. Cruise
ships, container vessels and nuclear submarines
pass above.
Small estuaries, lagoons and creek mouths offer young
salmon a place to rest and avoid predators. Eelgrass
beds provide additional shelter and spawning habitat
for the herring they eat. Glacial bluffs shed earth
to the beaches below, replenishing egg-laying gravels
for two other forage fish the salmon love -- sand lance
and surf smelt.
In addition to natural riches this beautiful shore
is rich in history as well. British explorer, Captain
George Vancouver of the HMS Discovery, named the
bluff at Admiralty Head in 1792 in honor of the
British Lords of the Admiralty. The US government
built a lighthouse here in 1861 and later a coastal
defense installation, Fort Casey, that is now a
state park.
Admiralty Inlet Marine Stewardship Area spans the
breadth, depth and length of Island County waters
west of Whidbey Island from Deception Pass in the
north to Possession Point in the south.
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