Portage Bay Conditions Report

Portage Bay is paddling beautifully right now.

The houseboats along the eastern shore provide excellent wind protection, making this a great spot when Lake Union gets choppy. Current water clarity is exceptional – you can see 6-8 feet down in the shallows.

Launch from the public dock near the University Bridge. Parking is limited to 2 hours on street, so plan accordingly or use the nearby garage.

Watch for rowing shells early morning – they have right of way and move fast. The UW crew team practices between 6-8 AM most weekdays.

Enjoy the calm waters!

Seattle paddleboarding
Jennifer Walsh

Jennifer Walsh

Author & Expert

Senior Cloud Solutions Architect with 12 years of experience in AWS, Azure, and GCP. Jennifer has led enterprise migrations for Fortune 500 companies and holds AWS Solutions Architect Professional and DevOps Engineer certifications. She specializes in serverless architectures, container orchestration, and cloud cost optimization. Previously a senior engineer at AWS Professional Services.

15 Articles
View All Posts

Subscribe for Updates

Get the latest articles delivered to your inbox.