Balch Passage 2
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Balch Passage is part of the deep-water route from The Narrows to Olympia, linking through Drayton Passage and Dana Passage into Budd Inlet.

Timing

Balch Passage is part of the deep-water route from The Narrows to Olympia, linking through Drayton Passage and Dana Passage into Budd Inlet.

Coast Pilot, In Plain Words

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

Read the official text

Currents

From here the route to Olympia continues southwest and west through Balch Passage, Drayton Passage and Dana Passage, thence south into Budd Inlet. This route is deep and generally free of dangers.

Caution

The channel through Balch Passage is only about 100 yards wide between the 10-fathom curves, and the scale of the chart is small. Vessels should stay carefully in midchannel, traffic permitting.

Eagle Island, small and wooded, is near the middle of Balch Passage, 0.2 mile from Anderson Island, and is marked on its north end by a light. Eagle Island is a state park.

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

Local Knowledge

  • Watch out

    The channel is only about 100 yards wide between the 10-fathom curves, and the chart scale is small here, so stay carefully in midchannel when traffic allows.

  • Tip

    Eagle Island, a state park, sits near the middle of the channel, close to Anderson Island, marked by a light on its north end.

Plan a Trip Through Balch 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 Balch Passage

Oro Bay → Balch Passage · 2.0 nm · ~0h 15m at · from the south

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 Balch Passage?
Balch Passage is part of the deep-water route from The Narrows to Olympia, linking through Drayton Passage and Dana Passage into Budd Inlet.
What should I watch out for at Balch Passage?
The channel is only about 100 yards wide between the 10-fathom curves, and the chart scale is small here, so stay carefully in midchannel when traffic allows.
What does Class 2 mean?
Class 2 is BoatRoutes' own 1-to-5 rating of how costly a timing or judgment mistake is here — it is not a NOAA scale. Class 2 means one thing to plan around (depth, a schedule, or mild current); getting it wrong costs time, not safety.

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.