Five things
#1. It’s a straightforward little park, with 17 acres of saltwater frontage with picnic tables, a boat launch, and a long dock on a sheltered bay on Marrowstone Island.
#2. Mystery Bay allegedly earned its name during Prohibition, when smugglers would bring liquor from Canada to Kilisut Harbor, the five-mile-long waterway between Marrowstone and Indian islands. Mystery Bay is a short, hook-shaped bay about halfway down Kilisut Harbor and would have been a secluded spot to anchor for the night, out of sight of Coast Guard patrol boats.
#3. Mystery Bay is no mystery to boaters, who clearly know about this little gem. We saw several boats tied up to the dock. On one, a guy was preparing lunch on a deck-mounted grill, wine glasses at the ready. On another, people relaxed in chairs.
#4. Fort Flagler State Park’s moorage buoys and docks full? Bring your boat here, just three miles south, for a quiet escape, and perhaps enjoy some oysters and clams you dug onshore.
#5. Nordland, the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it hamlet less than a mile from the park entrance, is named for Peter Nordby, a Norwegian who came to Marrowstone Island in the late 1800s via Minnesota and South Dakota. Nordby platted the land and sold lots, but didn’t stay, moving to Seattle and launching a ship supply company. There’s a general store at Nordland, but it wasn’t open when we visited the park.
Fast Facts about Mystery Bay State Park
- 17-acre day-use park, open year-round
- 650’ saltwater shoreline
- 2 vault toilets
- 6 picnic tables, 3 fire rings
- birding, wildlife viewing
- beachcombing, shellfishing, crabbing, saltwater fishing, diving, boating
- 683’ of moorage, watercraft launch
- Discover Pass required, $10 daily or, for a very reasonable $30, purchase an annual pass
- park map
Land Acknowledgment
Mystery Bay State Park occupies the traditional, ancestral, and unceded lands of the S’Klallam, Chimacum, and Suquamish peoples, whose descendants include the Jamestown S’Klallam, Port Gamble S’Klallam, Skokomish, and Suquamish tribes and who have lived and travelled here since time immemorial.
