Lake Union Self Guided Walking Tour

This is s Google Earth pic of Lake Union. The Wooden Boat Center where i work as a Volunteer Sailing Instructor is located on the far South end. The Channel in the North East Corner links Portage Bay then Lake Washington and the Channel in the NorthWest links Puget Sound Via the Ballard Locks. As you can see every square ince of these waterways are fully developed. 

Hard to tell where one marina ends and another starts.

There is a Fairview everywhere in Washington

Interesting Ride here

The boat yards all have all weather covers, that is a sailboat mast sticking up

That bridge in the background is the way out ti Puget Sound.

Where the Marinas end the shipyards begins. 

The entire South East corner of the lake had a water side walkway, very convenient for marine touring.

This small Seaplane company was tucked in. They just had 3-4 planes but they want your business. 

When I saw this I thought of my good (pilot) friend Mark in Corpus, I emailed him that I found a Seaplane he could buy here in Seattle! I would love to have a friend with a Seaplane up here! He replied " Great, now we can Crash and Drown!"

I still like it

I was wondering what the story is with this somewhat neglected cruiser docked right in front of the Seaplane place. 

By the looks of it these guys have probably been in business here on this lake for the last 200 years. http://www.ludd.com/

I am sure any vessel could get what ever they need here. 

Lake Washington Rowing Club has been a part of Seattle since 1957. LWRC was started by men who wanted to compete at the 1960 Olympics, in Rome. http://lakewashingtonrowing.com/home/about-us/history/

Somebody knows someone or perhaps this is the owners vessel. 

Lake Union Self Guided Walking Tour

This is definitely part one of a series since it will take several attempts to walk the whole lake and see it all. I have seen most of it by water as I teach adult sailing students in a Blanchard Jr. knockabout and that is just what raised my curiosity about the incredible Marine environment with over 200 years of very rich history. One Saturday there was no wind so the sailing was called off. I chose to spend that time exploring the banks of the lake by foot and just do a self guided tour. The Marinas, boat chandelier's, seaplanes, shipyards are all mixed in together. It's not like there were any previous attempts to zone the lake for different uses. I toured the area along the South East corner and ended where the waterside walkway ended forcing me up on to the street. I am determined to see the rest of it some day but I will just update the blog whenever that occurs. But for anyone interested in Boat stuff, this lake has all of it. It is a great place to learn how to sail on since you have every imaginable type of traffic in a relatively small area and lots of it all the time.
Just yesterday I resumed teaching Sailing lessons after the Holiday break. Just after we left the dock we soon found ourselves out in the middle of a Seattle Yacht Club race. I would have thought they would be out in 15-to 20' vessels...but No, these were 30-45' vessels Honking right along at speed in a very small area for about 25 vessels plus the 3-4 20' vessels out just taking sailing lessons. Not to mention a small bit of commercial traffic and the occasional Seaplane. A great opportunity for everyone to learn right of way rules though! Stay posted I will continue the rest of this story later.