Agate Passage 3
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This channel is the north entrance to Port Orchard, west of Bainbridge Island, and connects it with Port Madison. It is about a mile long and runs to the southwest with steep, wooded shores. The current reaches 6 knots. It floods to the southwest and ebbs to the northeast.

Timing

This channel is the north entrance to Port Orchard, west of Bainbridge Island, and connects it with Port Madison. It is about a mile long and runs to the southwest with steep, wooded shores. The current reaches 6 knots. It floods to the southwest and ebbs to the northeast.

Agate Passage
Agate PassagePhoto: User:DVD R W / Wikimedia Commons (CC-BY-SA-3.0)

Coast Pilot, In Plain Words

Here is what the U.S. Coast Pilot says about Agate Passage and the water around it. The official text is below.

Read the official text

Port Orchard to Brownsville

Port Orchard is an extensive body of water, west of Bainbridge Island, 15 miles long. Its north end connects with Port Madison through Agate Passage. At its south end Port Orchard connects with Puget Sound through Rich Passage. The shores are moderately low and wooded. Villages and numerous cottages line the shores with many having private docks, moorings and platforms.

Current

Agate Passage is the north entrance to Port Orchard and connects it with Port Madison. The channel extends about 1 mile in a southwest direction with a depth of about 20 feet. The passage is straight with shores that are wooded and fairly steep-to. The shoreline is mostly rocky and fringed with kelp to Point Bolin. The currents have velocities up to 6 knots; the flood sets southwest and the ebb northeast.

The passage is partially obstructed by a shoal near the middle of the north end with depths of 9 feet, with depths of 13 to 18 feet almost in midchannel.

The north entrance is marked by a light on the west side of the channel opposite Agate Point; a lighted buoy marks the channel through the passage and a light marks a shoal northeast of Point Bolin.

A fixed highway bridge, 0.7 mile south of Agate Point, has a clearance of 75 feet for a midwidth of 300 feet. Overhead power cables cross the passage on both sides of the bridge; least clearance is 96 feet.

Source: U.S. Coast Pilot 10, Chapter 8, 7 ed. (NOAA, Office of Coast Survey). Updated weekly. Official Coast Pilot ↗

Local Knowledge

  • Watch out

    A shoal near the middle of the north end carries only about 9 feet. The shoreline is rocky and fringed with kelp. Stay in the marked channel and mind the current, which can push a boat off track.

  • Tip

    A fixed highway bridge crosses the channel with about 75 feet of clearance. Power cables run near the bridge on both sides, with a least clearance of about 96 feet. Time your run near slack or ride the fair current with you.

Plan a Trip Through Agate Passage

1. Start from

Nearest harbor on each side of the narrows. Pick a side to start there.

2. Cross to the other side of Agate Passage

Port of Poulsbo Marina → Agate Passage · 4.0 nm · ~0h 30m at · from the west

Full departure plan →

Stations & Data

Times are NOAA predictions, not live readings. Open a station for its full tide and current charts.

Questions

What is Agate Passage?
This channel is the north entrance to Port Orchard, west of Bainbridge Island, and connects it with Port Madison. It is about a mile long and runs to the southwest with steep, wooded shores. The current reaches 6 knots. It floods to the southwest and ebbs to the northeast.
What should I watch out for at Agate Passage?
A shoal near the middle of the north end carries only about 9 feet. The shoreline is rocky and fringed with kelp. Stay in the marked channel and mind the current, which can push a boat off track.
What does Class 3 mean?
Class 3 is BoatRoutes' own 1-to-5 rating of how costly a timing or judgment mistake is here — it is not a NOAA scale. Class 3 means real current or confined water — cross near slack or a fair stage; a mistimed run demands attention.

Predictions, not observations · U.S. Coast Pilot 10 (7 ed.)

U.S. Coast Pilot text is a work of the U.S. Government and is in the public domain. Per 17 U.S.C. §403, no copyright is claimed in that text. BoatRoutes is not endorsed by NOAA.