We gather as crew, across our different relationships with the water. Explorers, innovators, artists; we who study, work, play with, and steward the water. A scientist notices the plankton; a painter notices the light; a fisherman notices what has changed since last year. Curiosity matters more than experience. Together, we'll weave our crafts and stories, to come into a deeper way of knowing the sea.
Out of Port Townsend, we'll make our way north through the Strait of Juan de Fuca and on, to the San Juan Islands if weather allows. We'll stand watches together, and share meals together, with our devices down and our attention on the water and each other.
We're here to create one artifact: an honest reading of the Salish Sea, the water & weather & ways of being in 2026, made with many hands to hold it.
The ship
Adventuress is a 1913 gaff-rigged schooner, a National Historic Landmark, and Puget Sound's environmental tall ship. For more than thirty years Sound Experience has sailed her as a floating classroom, and her crew carry the marine science of the Salish Sea with them: the plankton and the food web, the health of the Sound, and the long, patient work of stewardship. This voyage helps fund Adventuress' ongoing upkeep and core youth education work.
The crew
The dedicated crew who sail the Adventuress for a living are not only professional tall-ship sailors, they include educators, ecologists, and storytellers. Over our time together, they'll guide the sailing and how to read the water: from how to set a sail and why, to what the tide is doing and what lives in it, to how to be on the water rather than only on top of it.
As voyage crew, you'll be invited to stand watches, haul lines, take a turn in the galley, and learn the ship with guidance. Bring your curiosities, expertise, and way of seeing the world. The days are kept loose enough that those conversations have somewhere to go.
The record
It's standard practice on a ship to keep a log of the journey. That's where we'll start. A log of each day's weather and water. The shorelines and tidelines we pass, and what we find along them. What each of us stands up to share. Field notes, sketches, a reading taken at anchor, a poem if it turns up.
We'll take it a step further to create a time capsule for this corner of the Salish Sea in 2026. We'll create some sort of book (to be determined emergently by people and place). Perhaps with comics, poems or hand-sketched data-visualizations; or with a box to be sealed until 2126.
What to expect
- Standing watches and sailing the ship with her professional crew
- Sessions on how the Salish Sea works: its plankton, food web, tides, and the people who live and work on it
- A turn for everyone aboard to share a skill, a talk, a craft or a meaningful object
- Meals cooked and eaten together as a crew
- A chronicle of our passage we will be emergently creating
- Four days off the grid, phones stowed, attention given to the water and the people beside you
The four days
The schedule bends to wind and tide, so this is the shape of it, not a timetable.
Thursday · Cast off. Meet at the Port Townsend dock at 10am and cast off late morning, heading out into the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Learn the ship, settle into your watch, and anchor for the first night. Dinner together, and the first pages of the record.
Friday · Read. A full day under sail, working north as wind and tide allow. The crew lead the first sessions on the ecology, what is in the water and how the Sound is faring, and the evening goes to what we each have to share.
Saturday · Make. Turn back toward Port Townsend, anchoring in the lee for our last night aboard. Long, uninterrupted stretches to write and assemble, and an evening to bring the record together.
Sunday · Carry it home. An early watch, then sail the last of the way in, back in Port Townsend by 4pm.
Throughout, we are guests in the traditional home waters of the Coast Salish peoples, who have read these waters for thousands of years and still do. Expect to sleep aboard, and to eat and sail as a crew.
The rates
- Crew rate, $1,600. Four full days aboard with everything included.
- Artist and early-career, $1,000. A limited number of places.
- Support the voyage through the Salish Voyage Scholarship Fund. If you or your organization would like to give, donate through Sound Experience, the 501(c)(3) that sails Adventuress, and note that your gift is for the 2026 Salish Voyage. Every gift helps hold a place for a voice that would otherwise not be aboard.
Everyone sails the same voyage. The rate simply reflects what you can give. If cost is the barrier and you would otherwise be aboard, apply for the Salish Voyage Scholarship on the application.
Included
- Your berth aboard for three nights
- All meals aboard
- Every session and the full voyage
- A digital copy of the time capsule once it is made
Not included
- Travel to and from Port Townsend
- Personal gear and foul-weather kit
- Trip insurance (advised)
Applications close 1 September
Good to know
No experience needed
You do not need to have sailed before. The crew teach everything you need, and a safety briefing comes first.
A working ship asks something of you
Physical activity, early watches, shared quarters, and real weather. A reasonable level of fitness and mobility helps, and seasickness is possible.
Weather
Adventuress is a sailing vessel in the Salish Sea in September. Routing is set day to day for safety, and the captain's word is final. If weather closes a window we anchor and carry on.
Food
Meals aboard are provided. We plan around dietary needs as best we can within the realities of a galley at sea.
What to bring
Layers and foul-weather gear. A full packing list follows once you have a place.
Getting there
The voyage departs from Port Townsend, just after the Wooden Boat Festival. Travel to and from the dock is your own.
Phone free
These four days are cellphone free. There is little reliable signal offshore in any case, and setting the phones aside is part of the point. Bring a watch and a notebook, a camera if you like one, and let anyone who needs you know you will be off grid until Sunday.
Applying, payment, and cancellation
Applications are open now and close 1 September. We read them as they come and reply to everyone. If you are offered a place, the payment and cancellation terms come with your offer.