Sucia Island Marine State Park

Boating features

Located in Puget Sound in San Juan County, Sucia Island has 48 mooring buoys, two linear moorage systems and two docks. These are found at six locations around the island. Dock 2 is removed early October through early April to prevent winter storm damage. Mooring buoys remain in place year-round. Anchorage is available in all of the bays and coves, and there is no fee for boats riding on their own anchor. The bottoms are generally sandy mud, but in some locations eelgrass and seaweed may make setting anchor difficult. Moorage fees are charged between 1 p.m. and 8 a.m. All boaters must register and pay upon arrival. Boaters must also pay a fee for boats rafted to another boat. Rafting limits are posted on the buoys. Visit the permit page to purchase an annual moorage permit.

Echo Bay

Echo bay has 14 buoys and two linear moorage systems (800 linear feet).

Latitude: 48 45' 47.89" N (48.7633)
Longitude: 122 54' 37" W (-122.9102)

Ewing Cove

Ewing Cove has four buoys.

Latitude: 48 45' 55" N (48.7652)
Longitude: 122 53' 9" W (-122.8858)

Fossil Bay

Fossil Bay has potable water, 16 buoys, and two moorage docks (640 linear feet). Dock 2 is removed early October through early April to prevent winter storm damage.

Latitude: 48 45' 0" N (48.75)
Longitude: 122 54' 1.98" W (-122.9005)

Fox Cove
Fox Cove has four buoys.

Latitude: 48 45' 9.97" N (48.7527)
Longitude: 122 54' 47.88" W (-122.9133)

Shallow Bay
Shallow Bay has eight buoys.

Latitude: 48 45' 43.92" N (48.7622)
Longitude: 122 55' 2" W (-122.9172)

Snoring Bay
Snoring Bay has two buoys.

Latitude: 48 44' 55.67" N (48.7488)
Longitude: 122 53' 26.99" W (-122.8908)

this park offers phone in buoy registration

How it works:

• When you arrive at a buoy, call the phone number on the mooring ball.
• Provide your buoy number and length of stay (3 nights maximum).
• Pay with a credit or debit card or provide your Annual Boat Moorage permit number.
• There is a $4.50 convenience fee to register by phone.
• All buoys are first come, first served and $15 per night.

Additional information

Boaters should use caution when in the waters around this park. The word "sucia" is Spanish, meaning foul or dirty in a nautical sense. It refers to the numerous rocks and reefs which surround the island. These rocks and reefs have grounded and sunk numerous boats since European explorers first named the island in the 1790s. Boaters should check their charts frequently and pay particular attention to Clements Reef on the north shore of Sucia, as well as the entrances to Ewing Cove, Fox Cove, and Shallow Bay. There is a long reef which extends to the west of Little Sucia Island. Reefs also extend outward from Ev Henry Point, North and South Finger islands, and the Cluster Islands.

Campsite information

Camping is available on a first come, first served basis. The park has 60 standard campsites, four reservable group camps, four picnic shelters, potable drinking water at Fossil Bay early April through September, Echo Bay and Shallow Bay May through September and composting toilets.

Check-in time is 2:30 p.m.
Check-out time is 1 p.m.

Visitors with disabilities may call the park at (360) 376-2073 for moorage and camping accommodation assistance.

Group accommodations

Four group camp areas may be reserved nine months in advance online or by calling (888) 226-7688.

Fees

For fee information, check out our camping rates page.

Services & supplies

The nearest fuel and groceries are available seasonally at West Beach Resort on Orcas Island. Full service sites are located at Blaine, Deer, Roche and Friday harbors.

Historical information 

This island park sits within the traditional territory of several Coast Salish tribes, who occupied the area for several thousand years.

In 1791, Spanish explorer, Captain Francisco de Eliza, labelled the island as “Isla Sucia” on his map. In Spanish, “sucio” means “dirty” or “foul.” 

In 1841, American explorer and naval officer Charles Wilkes renamed Sucia and its neighboring reefs and rocks the Percival Group to honor Captain John Percival, who fought in the War of 1812. The Spanish name was restored by British naval officer Henry Kellet in his 1847 Admiralty chart.

The first known Euro-American settler on the island was Charles Henry Wiggins, who moved to the island in the 1880s with his wife, Mary Luzier, a Cowlitz Indian. The Wiggins family had lived previously on nearby Waldron Island, but left for Sucia after government agents seized eight of their children and took them to Chemawa Indian School in Salem, Oregon. The couple had five more children on Sucia and established a farm with fruit trees, cows and sheep. Wiggins Head at the southeast end of the island is named for the family.

Fox farming and sandstone quarrying were among the industries undertaken on the island during the early-to-mid 20th century.

Washington State Parks acquired 115 acres of Sucia Island near Fossil Bay in 1952. Later, developers wanted to parcel up the remainder into vacation lots. Seattle yachtsman Everett (Ev) Henry spearheaded a drive to raise money and the Interclub (now the Recreational Boaters Association of Washington) was formed. The club paid $25,000 to purchase the land, which was donated to Washington State Parks in 1959. The agency acquired the remaining parcels of private property in 1972, and the entire island became a state marine park.

On April 10, 2012, part of a femur bone from a theropod dinosaur was discovered in a rock on the island. (Theropods are a group of meat-eating, two-legged dinosaurs, including T. rex and Velociraptor.) The fossil was spotted and excavated by paleontologists at the Burke Museum. The fossil is around 80 million years old, and the dinosaur lived south of today’s Washington state. The rocks that make up Sucia Island are believed to have been moved slowly north by geological processes.