if you could live anywhere on the sound..?

[Stonedfish]

One other thing to mention are the ferries, if you move to a place that might require you to ride them to get to medical specialists say in Seattle or to the airport.
They are a wreck right now. Between staffing issues and boats being down for repairs, I’ve never seen it this bad after riding them for years.
This is the alerts page just to give you an idea of what is going on. My trip home from fishing on Saturday resulted in nearly a three hour wait.
SF

WSDOT - Ferries - Alerts

wsdot.com

 

[Mossback]

This ^

We use the 2.5 hr rule...
If it is longer than that on a ferry wait, it is faster to drive around, unless it is rush hour or a wind storm.
We both have ferry nightmare stories, as do most who live out here.

 

[Dragon Mo]

We moved up here a bit less than 2 years ago. Hansville was my first choice of where to live. We didn't quite get there but we're north of the casino on the hood canal side. Wouldn't trade the area for anywhere else. I would think that most of the nukes would be stored further north on Indian Island.

 

[JayB]

Well played...and valid points
Primary driver to the Sound is the water, to enjoy being alongside it as well as boat in it, so a dockside hardtop would need to be part of it.
We like quiet neighborhoods out of the mix, both swim laps so a nearby pool a must, walkable trails or neighborhoods as well. Half hour runs to decent shopping or medical/dentist, hour and a half to an airport max as we do take out of state trips, and our kids/grandkids routinely visit us. Flyfishing obviously.
We're ready to move on from Sunriver to our next hang before the retirement home calls for us at some point. So we have some road trips lined up to check out options, the Sound being one of them.
And we do like Port Townsend, have a 'Thunderpussy' band t-shirt, so would fit right in..

I can see the appeal of Port Townsend if you're wired that way for sure, but it fails when it comes to other criteria.

Based on those inputs, and painting in broad strokes I'd say that you can probably remove the following parts of the Puget Sound from consideration:

-Hood Canal
-Anything on the Olympic Peninsula.
-Anything north of Anacortes.
-The San Juans.
-Vashon Island.
-Fox Island.
-Anything on the Kitsap Peninsula North of Silverdale.
-Whidbey or Camano Islands.

Places I would recommend:

-Gig Harbor
-Homes close to Discovery Park in Magnolia.
-The Sunset Hill area in Ballard.
-The Broadview neighborhood by Carkeek Park.
-The Edmonds-Mukilteo Zone between the south side of Forest Park and Richmond Beach Saltwater park (no more than ~1 mile away from the water)
-Bainbridge Island.
-The McCormick Woods area in Port Orchard (planned community vibe (because it is), but nice, quiet, and has a massive amount of very nice hiking/biking trails built into it and several lakes worth exploring, plus there's a ramp and moorage available in town. Demo/vibe is probably not the best match for anyone with a countercultural streak but it meets all of the criteria otherwise. Also probably the least expensive place on the list if that's a consideration.

All of the places on the list have very good access to ramps, marinas, or both. Not sure but I think both of what'd be my top-two recommendations (#1 Bainbridge and #2 Gig Harbor) have aquatic centers on them or very close.

 

[SurfnFish]

I can see the appeal of Port Townsend if you're wired that way for sure, but it fails when it comes to other criteria.

Based on those inputs, and painting in broad strokes I'd say that you can probably remove the following parts of the Puget Sound from consideration:

-Hood Canal
-Anything on the Olympic Peninsula.
-Anything north of Anacortes.
-The San Juans.
-Vashon Island.
-Fox Island.
-Anything on the Kitsap Peninsula North of Silverdale.
-Whidbey or Camano Islands.

Places I would recommend:

-Gig Harbor
-Homes close to Discovery Park in Magnolia.
-The Sunset Hill area in Ballard.
-The Broadview neighborhood by Carkeek Park.
-The Edmonds-Mukilteo Zone between the south side of Forest Park and Richmond Beach Saltwater park (no more than ~1 mile away from the water)
-Bainbridge Island.
-The McCormick Woods area in Port Orchard (planned community vibe (because it is), but nice, quiet, and has a massive amount of very nice hiking/biking trails built into it and several lakes worth exploring, plus there's a ramp and moorage available in town. Demo/vibe is probably not the best match for anyone with a countercultural streak but it meets all of the criteria otherwise. Also probably the least expensive place on the list if that's a consideration.

All of the places on the list have very good access to ramps, marinas, or both. Not sure but I think both of what'd be my top-two recommendations (#1 Bainbridge and #2 Gig Harbor) have aquatic centers on them or very close.

thoughtful of you to take the time to offer such detailed info..mucho gracias

 

[Wadin' Boot]

Seems to me if you love fishing there's various beaches, rivers etc and places that are going to be more fun depending on what time of year it is. You'd need to be very comfortable on how weird WDFW salmon rules and have confidence that SRC rules don't ever change. You could get easily get stuck still driving 40- 60 minutes to end up in a likely or at very least open spot. I guess that changes quickly if you had a boat, even then, if fishing was your main side hustle, winter- south sound, summer and fall north sound, your engine's going to collect some hours

i got my own perspectives on good health care. Suffice it to say, if the internet is reliable and you have a complex chronic condition, you can get plenty good outpatient care from your living room wherever you are in Washington state. If it's complex inpatient care you need, you've got ok to good hospitals scattered around Puget Sound and some internationally outstanding ones within 3 miles of Lake Union. That doesn't mean there aren't terrific doctors and teams through Puget Sound, there are. So stay fit and active and avoid getting sick in the first place....