A Girls’ Day on the Sound: Ferry Hopping, Good Wine, and Great Company

I’ve been thinking about planning a girls’ day for a while now, and I have an idea that I think could be an absolute blast. It involves a few good friends, several ferry rides, a little wine tasting, a delicious lunch, and an entire day when nobody has to drive. Doesn’t that sound wonderful?

One of the things I love about living in Kitsap County is that we have this incredible ferry system right in our backyard. Most people think of ferries as transportation, something you take because you need to get from one place to another. But I’ve always enjoyed the idea of taking the ferry simply because it’s fun to be on a boat. There’s something special about watching the scenery from the water. You get a completely different perspective of the places you’re used to seeing from land, and you can actually enjoy the views rather than concentrating on the road.

So I’ve been thinking, why not make an entire day out of it? I’m talking about leaving Port Orchard on the foot ferry, crossing over to Bremerton, catching the Washington State Ferry to Seattle, and then hopping on another ferry to Bainbridge Island for lunch and wine tasting before making our way home. An entire day traveling around Puget Sound without ever needing a car, except for getting dropped off and picked up at the beginning and end. Thankfully, I know a few husbands who would be perfectly happy to handle that part.

The Best Part? Nobody Has to Drive

Have you ever taken a beautiful drive with friends or family and realized that the person behind the wheel is missing half the scenery? Everyone else is looking out the windows, pointing at interesting things, admiring the mountains, or watching the sunlight sparkle on the water. Meanwhile, the driver is watching the road, checking mirrors, and making sure nobody misses a turn. That’s just how driving works, but imagine everyone getting to enjoy the scenery together.

That’s what appeals to me about this particular adventure. Once we’re on the ferry, we can settle in, look out at the water, have conversations, laugh, and simply enjoy being together. On the larger Washington State Ferries, you can get up and walk around, find a comfortable place to sit, and enjoy the views from different parts of the boat. I particularly enjoy the traditional ferry between Bremerton and Seattle because the trip takes about an hour, giving everyone time to relax and take in the scenery. The fast ferry is wonderful when you’re trying to get somewhere quickly, but for this adventure, getting there quickly isn’t really the point. The journey is part of the fun.

Since I’m imagining this as a girls’ day with lunch and wine tasting, there’s another benefit. Nobody in our group needs to be the designated driver while we’re traveling by ferry. We can enjoy our tastings responsibly, take our time over lunch, and let the ferries bring us home. Of course, having a designated pickup person waiting at the end would be ideal. That person might even earn a nice bottle of wine as a thank you.

Starting the Adventure in Port Orchard

I’d start our day in downtown Port Orchard, preferably after arranging for someone to drop us off near the ferry terminal. Parking downtown can be a challenge, and if the whole purpose of the day is to avoid dealing with cars, we might as well start things off right. Depending on our ferry schedule, it could be fun to grab a coffee before boarding and enjoy a little time together before the adventure really begins.

One of the places I appreciate in downtown Port Orchard is The Coffee Oasis. They’re more than a coffee shop. Their organization helps young people experiencing homelessness by providing support and opportunities to develop job skills. I love businesses and organizations that find ways to make a positive difference in our community, and this is one worth knowing about. Starting the day with a cup of coffee while supporting an organization doing meaningful work sounds pretty good to me.

After coffee, we’d board the little foot ferry that connects Port Orchard with Bremerton. This is one of those local experiences I think more people should enjoy simply for the fun of it. It’s a short ride across Sinclair Inlet, but you get to be out on the water, look back toward the Port Orchard waterfront, and see the surrounding hillsides from a different angle. The fare is inexpensive, which makes it a wonderful little adventure all by itself.

In fact, if someone didn’t want to make the entire trip to Bainbridge Island, taking the foot ferry over to Bremerton for an afternoon would be a perfectly enjoyable outing. You could have lunch, explore the waterfront, and take the ferry back home without ever getting into a car.

A Little Time in Bremerton

Once we arrive in Bremerton, we’re right near the Washington State Ferry terminal, but there’s no reason to overlook what’s available along the waterfront. The Puget Sound Navy Museum is nearby, and admission is free. It’s an interesting place to learn about the Navy’s presence in the region and the history that has shaped so much of Kitsap County. There’s also the USS Turner Joy, a historic Navy destroyer that visitors can tour for an admission fee.

For families, the Bremerton waterfront offers another fun option. During the warmer months, the fountains at Harborside Fountain Park are a popular place for children to enjoy the water. Downtown Bremerton also has restaurants worth exploring, although I have to admit that I haven’t spent nearly as much time discovering its shops and restaurants as I’d like. Usually, I’m passing through on my way to Seattle, so perhaps exploring downtown Bremerton deserves an adventure of its own someday.

For this particular girls’ day, however, Bremerton is our jumping off point for the next part of the journey. After allowing enough time for our connection, we’d board the larger ferry and settle in for the scenic trip across Puget Sound.

The Scenic Route to Seattle

This is the part where I would choose the traditional Washington State Ferry rather than the fast ferry. The longer crossing between Bremerton and Seattle gives everyone time to enjoy being on the water. Depending on the weather, we might see the Olympic Mountains, the Seattle skyline, or beautiful stretches of shoreline as we travel through Puget Sound. It’s an opportunity to see our region from a completely different perspective, without anyone having to worry about traffic.

I happen to love gray, misty days, so the weather wouldn’t bother me one bit. In fact, I think there’s something especially beautiful about being on the water when the clouds hang low over the hills and the mist softens the scenery. I know some people prefer bright sunshine, but give me a cozy sweater, a cup of coffee, good company, and a view of the Sound on a cloudy day, and I’m perfectly happy.

Once we reach Seattle, we’d make our way to the Bainbridge Island ferry. That crossing is another opportunity to enjoy the water, with a different view of the city and surrounding shoreline. By the time we arrive on Bainbridge Island, we’ll have enjoyed three separate ferry rides, and we haven’t even started the wine tasting! For someone like me, who enjoys being on the water as much as arriving at the destination, that’s a pretty wonderful way to spend the morning.

Lunch and Wine Tasting on Bainbridge Island

Now comes the part of the day that I think my girlfriends would especially enjoy. Downtown Winslow on Bainbridge Island has wonderful restaurants, interesting shops, and wine tasting rooms, all within walking distance of the ferry terminal. I love the idea that we could spend the afternoon exploring without worrying about where we parked or who needs to drive to the next stop.

I wouldn’t want every minute of this part of the day scheduled. After planning our ferry connections, I think it would be nice to leave ourselves some flexibility. We could choose a restaurant for lunch, enjoy a leisurely meal, and then spend some time wandering through town. If we see an interesting shop, we can stop in. If lunch lasts longer than expected because we’re enjoying the conversation, that’s perfectly fine, provided we’ve left ourselves enough time to catch the ferry home.

There are a couple of wine tasting rooms I’d be interested in visiting. Eleven Winery has a tasting room on Winslow Way, and Fletcher Bay Winery also has a downtown tasting room that’s convenient for people visiting without a car. I love that we could experience local wines without needing to drive from one winery to another. We could enjoy a tasting, browse some shops, stop for a bite to eat, and perhaps discover a place none of us had visited before.

The point wouldn’t be to see how many places we could squeeze into an afternoon. I’d rather enjoy a couple of places and have plenty of time for conversation. After all, the wine and food are wonderful additions, but spending time with friends is really what makes an outing like this memorable.

A Little Planning Makes the Day More Enjoyable

As much as I love the idea of spending a relaxing day ferry hopping, there’s one part that absolutely cannot be left to chance, and that’s the ferry schedules. When your adventure depends on connecting several different ferries, you need to do your homework. I’d start by choosing a date and looking at all three ferry routes, including the return trips. Then I’d work backward from the final ferry we need to catch in Bremerton to get home to Port Orchard.

That last connection is particularly important. I can just imagine us having a wonderful afternoon on Bainbridge Island, enjoying a little too much conversation over lunch, and then suddenly realizing we’ve missed the ferry we needed. Or worse, getting all the way back to Bremerton only to discover that the last foot ferry to Port Orchard has already departed.

Yes, our husbands could probably drive to Bremerton to pick us up, but asking someone to drive all that way because we lost track of time seems a little inconsiderate. I’d rather keep everybody happy, including our ride home. So my plan would be to get the transportation figured out first. We’d check the schedules for the Port Orchard foot ferry, the Bremerton to Seattle ferry, and the Seattle to Bainbridge Island ferry, making sure the connections work in both directions.

I’d also leave extra time between sailings because delays happen, especially during the winter. Once that part is settled, lunch and wine tasting can be a little more spontaneous. Plan the transportation, then enjoy the adventure. That sounds like a pretty good balance to me.

Why Wait Until Summer?

One of the things I find especially appealing about this idea is that it doesn’t have to be a summertime activity. In fact, I think it would be a wonderful way to spend a day during late fall or winter. We have some beautiful summer days here in Kitsap County, but there’s no reason to stop having adventures when the weather turns cooler.

Imagine getting together with friends sometime in January or February, when the holidays are over, the days are still short, and everyone is settling back into their usual routines. What better way to break up the winter doldrums than to plan a day out on Puget Sound? We could bundle up in warm coats, enjoy the scenery from the comfort of the ferries, have a wonderful lunch, taste some good wine, and spend the day laughing and catching up.

Maybe there would be mist hanging over the water. Maybe we’d have a little rain. Perhaps the clouds would break just enough to give us a beautiful view of the mountains. Whatever the weather brings, I think the day would be memorable. And for someone like me, who genuinely loves our rainy Pacific Northwest weather, a gray winter day on the Sound sounds just about perfect.

Sometimes the Journey Is the Destination

The older I get, the more I appreciate opportunities to spend time with people I care about. We all have busy lives. There are responsibilities, schedules, work, family commitments, and countless things competing for our attention. It’s easy to keep saying that we should get together sometime without ever actually putting something on the calendar.

That’s one reason I want to make this ferry hopping adventure happen. It isn’t really about how many ferries we ride or which wines we taste. It’s about spending a day together without rushing from one responsibility to the next. It’s about sitting around a table with friends, sharing stories, laughing about things that probably wouldn’t be funny to anyone else, and enjoying the simple pleasure of being together. The beautiful scenery, the ferries, and the wine tasting would simply make the day even better.

And perhaps that’s one more reason I love living in Kitsap County. We have opportunities for little adventures all around us. Sometimes they’re as simple as taking a short ferry ride to a neighboring town. Other times, they can turn into an entire day exploring different corners of Puget Sound. We don’t always have to travel far or spend a fortune to create wonderful memories. Sometimes we just need to gather a few friends, look at the ferry schedule, and go.

Now I just need to get my girlfriends together, choose a date, and convince our husbands that picking us up at the end of the day is a perfectly reasonable contribution to our adventure. I have a feeling everyone would be ready to do it again before we even got home.

 

Jessica Contreras
WA LIC#23005400
(951) 537-7460

_{Jessica is a buyer specialist with The Contreras Team at Windermere Professional Partners, where she focuses on helping first time homebuyers and clients shopping for vacation and second homes in Kitsap County. She is known for her calm, patient approach and her ability to turn an overwhelming process into something clear and manageable.}

_{Jessica is an Accredited Buyer’s Representative (ABR®), recognized by the National Association of Realtors, and she holds the Commitment to Excellence (C2EX) endorsement, reflecting her ongoing dedication to professional growth, ethics, and client care.}

_{Her goal is simple: help people make confident decisions at their own pace, with clarity, honesty, and support every step of the way.}