Hale Passage 2
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Hale Passage runs about 6 miles along the east side of Lummi Island, separating it from the Whatcom County mainland. It's shallow at the northwest end — about 2 fathoms over the bar — and deepens to 20 fathoms toward the southeast end.

Depth

Controlling depth about 12 ft below low water. Check the tide height and add it to the charted depth before you go through.

Coast Pilot, In Plain Words

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

Read the official text

William Point to Bellingham

Hale Passage, 6 miles long, separates Lummi Island from the mainland to the northeast. Depths in the passage vary from 2 fathoms on the bar near the northwest end to 20 fathoms in the southeast end of the channel.

Lane Spit, on the west side of Hale Passage 1.5 miles southeast of Point Migley, is marked by a lighted buoy. A light is on the east side of Lummi Island 3 miles southeast of Lane Spit.

Lummi Island, a village on the west side of Hale Passage, is 1 mile south of Lane Spit. The village and island are linked to the mainland at Gooseberry Point by an automobile ferry. The ferry dock at Lummi Island is marked by a private light. A pier, adjacent to the ferry slip at Gooseberry Point, has a 6-ton hoist that can handle craft 28 feet long; gasoline, water, ice, marine supplies and hull and engine repairs are available. Depths of 4 feet are reported off the end of the pier at the hoist.

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

Local Knowledge

  • Watch out

    Lane Spit, on the west side of the channel about a mile and a half southeast of Point Migley, is marked with a lighted buoy — give it room, since the bar there is the shallow part of the channel.

  • Tip

    A car ferry crosses the channel between Lummi Island and Gooseberry Point on the mainland. The Gooseberry Point pier has a small hoist, gas, water, and ice, though depths off the end run only about 4 feet.

  • Timing

    No published depth bin is confirmed yet for the Hale Passage current station near Lummi Point, so there's no predicted current speed on this page. Plan around a moderate tide stage and watch for the ferry.

Plan a Trip Through Hale 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 Hale Passage

Hale Passage East Anchorage → Hale Passage · 2.5 nm · ~0h 19m at · from the southeast

Stations & Data

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

Questions

What is Hale Passage?
Hale Passage runs about 6 miles along the east side of Lummi Island, separating it from the Whatcom County mainland. It's shallow at the northwest end — about 2 fathoms over the bar — and deepens to 20 fathoms toward the southeast end.
When is the best time to go through Hale Passage?
No published depth bin is confirmed yet for the Hale Passage current station near Lummi Point, so there's no predicted current speed on this page. Plan around a moderate tide stage and watch for the ferry.
How deep is Hale Passage?
The controlling depth is about 12 feet below low water. Check the tide height and add it to the charted depth before you go through.
What should I watch out for at Hale Passage?
Lane Spit, on the west side of the channel about a mile and a half southeast of Point Migley, is marked with a lighted buoy — give it room, since the bar there is the shallow part of the channel.
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.