Jetty Island

Family near the ferry dock on Jetty Island

We have lived in Everett, Washington for almost 10 years.  We have been to Jetty Island twice - once it was just me and the kids, back in 2007; the other was as a family on Labor Day, 2012.  It is a shame we haven't been there more often, because it is incredibly fun.




Josh digging in the wet sand

Jetty Island is a little man made island in the water near the Port of Everett.  It is a haven for local birds and a delightful place to spend a day.  We finally decided to take a family trip to Jetty Island after years of thinking it was something fun we ought to try sometime.  So we made reservations for the ferry.  We packed up a lunch and some snacks, all the clothes we would need for the day, sunscreen, some sand toys, and plenty of drinks. 




All of us working together on the same sand castle

We caught the ferry pretty early in the day and headed over for some good family fun.  Before we got on the ferry, we made sure everyone went to the bathroom.  Facilities on the island are pretty primitive and are only available next to the ferry dock.   We headed down to the beach, and set our stuff down at a table.  We crossed our fingers and hoped that everything would remain where we put it and headed out to play. 


Robert and Sarah kicking the sand castle down



Jetty Island has a huge, flat, wet sand beach that is great to play on when the tide is out.  We played there first because as the tide comes in, you run out of space to play.  We built sand castles with moats.  (The moats were the easy part because any hole you dig fills with water almost immediately.)  The castles were not fancy at all, but we had a great time filling buckets and building.  When we were done, we decided to kick the castles down.  We made quick work of destroying the castles that took us so long to build.  But it was fun.  Amazingly, the beach is so wet that we had trouble finding where we had dug giant holes and built the sand castle later in the morning.


Matthew being buried




Rachel taking her turn in the sand

A few of us went out in the water, but we didn't spend much time there.  The water in the Sound is so cold and it was a really windy day.  After we had our fill of the muddy sand, we moved on to the dry stuff.  I think all the kids took a turn being at least partially buried in the sand.  While they were playing in the sand, I asked if I could join a sand volleyball game that was going on down the beach.  I quickly realized two things: it is really hard to play volleyball in the sand and wind, and the people I was playing with were not very good.  It was strange hitting the ball in the air and watching it sail sideways out of bounds when I had hit it straight.  It was fun anyway.  Robert got some pictures, but I look awkward at best, so I'm not sharing those pictures here.

Although we had a great time, we didn't go back again last year.  I think I will try to convince the family to go play again this summer.