We decided to visit Fair Harbor on a reader’s recommendation and had no idea what to expect. We ended up liking it so much we stayed an extra day.

Situated on the northwest side of Case Inlet across from Reach Island and Stretch Island, the harbor is lined with stately evergreens and vacation homes that manage not to intrude on its beauty.

The Fair Harbor Marina is in a particularly pretty stretch between two bridges, where the waters narrow. The sun was shining brightly when we arrived last Wednesday afternoon, making the place even more breathtaking.

And then there’s the marina, which must be among the most beautiful and well-maintained in the Northwest. Husband and wife Susan and Vern Nelson bought the place in 1990 and have upgraded it extensively over the past two decades, living in a house just above the marina.

A few years ago they built an open-air, covered pavilion overlooking the water that can be rented out for weddings and other events. With its tiled floors, chandeliers and stone fireplace, it would be an ideal place for a fancy boating event (or, we thought, a seasonal outdoor bar for visiting boaters). Yoga classes are currently offered Mondays at 5:30 p.m. in the pavilion.

If the pavilion was surprising, the marina store was even more so. Along with the usual necessities — beer and wine, ice, some grocery staples — the store carries an impressive selection of thoughtfully chosen and nautically themed gift items, from serving plates to wall hangings, candle holders to acrylic glasses. Need some nice fig preserves or savory salts, maybe a cookbook to give as a gift? You can find them here.

The store also has an espresso bar, with a few outdoor tables where locals frequently gather. Susan Nelson said the store started with the usual groceries, bait and tackle items, then she started adding gift and gourmet food items. Customers were enthusiastic.

“We do less bait and tackle and more gift and food items now,” she said. “People come here to shop from all over — Gig Harbor, Olympia. They love it.”

The Nelsons have done most of the work around the site themselves. Their care and attention to detail shows, from the trim lawns and flower gardens to the bathrooms and showers. I’m a sucker for nice marina bathrooms, and these ones put many marinas’ facilities to shame.

With their wainscoted entryway and tiles of muted greens, greys and golds, the bathrooms look more like something you’d find in a spa instead of a marina. Nelson and her husband painstakingly imprinted the bathroom walls with outlines of sea stars, sand dollars, fish and leaves, and embedded bits of sea glass in them. There’s even a hairdryer available for use. (One note, though: a quarter gets you just a minute of water, so be sure to bring a few extras.)

Another plus: free WiFi, which we especially appreciated since our new 3G connection has been frustratingly unreliable, unavailable in some areas and kicking us off after about five minutes when we finally get a connection.

The marina has 350 feet of guest moorage and can accommodate boats of up to 120 feet. Moorage is 60 cents a foot, plus $3.50 for electricity. The day use charge is $10 for one to three hours, with an $8 minimum. Though we arrived without a reservation and were able to get moorage, it’s best to call ahead in summer (360.426.4028 or 360.275.8939). Nelson said over the past couple of years the marina has started drawing boaters from areas outside of the South Sound, as increasing numbers discover the region’s solitude, beautiful cruising grounds and abundant opportunities for clamming and oyster-gathering.

The marina hosts the annual Grapeview Water and Art Festival featuring around 40 artists, live music, food, crafts and other activities for kids, a putting contest and a children’s fishing derby. This year’s is from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, July 31.

If you happen to visit and fall in love with the place, it could be yours: the Nelsons want to retire and have put the marina on the market. Asking price: $2.6 million.

That reader who suggested a visit to Fair Harbor is Randy Grauer, who lives just down the harbor in a place called Pirates Cove and cruises the South Sound with wife, Beth, in their Scanmar sailboat. Randy dropped by Three Sheets the other morning for coffee and a look at our boat. We rarely meet readers in real life, so it was great to meet Randy.

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Chainsaws and chardonnay

We’d planned to visit the Museum of Puget Sound, located in the old St. Charles Winery on Stretch Island. The winery opened in 1933 as the first “bonded” winery in the state following Prohibition and closed in 1965. It’s now a museum containing vintage wine-making equipment and artifacts focused on the region’s Mosquito Fleet, thousands of privately run freight and passenger steamships that traveled around the Sound from the 1850s to 1930s.

The museum is open most Sundays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and by appointment (360.275.5413), but unfortunately its owner, Harley Somers, was busy the day we wanted to visit. We’d hoped to learn a little from Somers about the area’s wine-producing history. Though the community of Grapeview officially only includes the Fair Harbor Marina and a nearby post office and fire station, to locals the name also incorporates Stretch and Reach islands, a nod to the numerous vineyards that once operated in the area.

We had no idea there were any Grapeview wineries left – until we visited one of the strangest businesses we’ve ever seen.

The local cruising guides we have say little about Allyn, a small community about four miles north of the Fair Harbor Marina. But once we heard there was a tavern (the magic word) there, we decided to dinghy over and check it out. Tying up at the public dock, we walked a couple of blocks to the town’s commercial area, passing a century-old church, a knit shop and an old school-looking takeout joint called Bubba’s Burgers along the way.

And then we came to an establishment straight out of Twin Peaks — a store selling chainsaw carvings of bears, eagles, totem poles and other figures, and next door, a wine shop and tasting room called Top of the Cork. The purveyor of this oddball pairing is George Kenny, a Michigan native who previously ran a chain of Goodyear Tire shops in California.

Over samples of several wines, including a tasty cabernet from the McGavick Nanstad Winery on Stretch Island, Kenny told us how he became a chainsaw carver after opening an espresso stand and gift shop on the site 16 years ago. A few months after the business opened, a man pulled up in a truck filled with his chainsaw carvings. Kenny’s store quickly emptied, his customers crowding around the truck for a look. Soon, several had purchased carvings. Kenny saw an opportunity.

He convinced the carver to set up shop outside his store and let Kenny handle sales of his work for a split of the profits. A few other carvers joined, and taught Kenny to carve. In 2002, he won a state carving competition in Oregon. Two years later, he started a school offering three-day courses in chainsaw carving that now draw students from as far away as Korea. As he sees it, the school is a way of expanding an art form that Kenny says started only about 20 years ago and exists primarily only in the Northwest.

“You go 100 miles east, you’re just not going to see [chainsaw carving],” he said. “It’s starting to take off, but it’s still in its infancy. I think you need to share the knowledge to grow the industry.”

Kenny’s store includes work from about 35 carvers, and he says demand is so high he can barely keep up. He opened the wine store and tasting room in October after the previous tenant vacated. Kenny frequently travels around the west coast with his girlfriend for carving competitions and shows, and now uses the trips to research and purchase wine for his newest venture.

“It’s been a lot of fun,” he said. “We go to wine shows and take wine tours.”

After chatting with Kenny, we headed across the street for a bite at Leonard K’s Boathouse. Besides a Mexican restaurant just down from the wine shop and a sign indicating a bistro about a quarter-mile away, the Boathouse is about the only dining option nearby. It’s a classic rock ‘n’ roll tavern, a local joint with pull-tabs, sports on the television and a large, two-level deck overlooking the water. The menu includes the usual pub fare– burgers, sandwiches, steak, pizza. Expect serviceable food, but nothing to write home about.

Dinghing back to the marina, we flew over an astonishing number of jellyfish as an almost-full moon reflected on the water. Fair Harbor, we decided, was a place of pleasant surprises and breathtaking beauty, a destination not to be missed.

About Deborah Bach

Deborah Bach is the editor and co-founder of Three Sheets Northwest. She is an avid sailor and long-time professional journalist. You can find Deborah aboard Three Sheets, an Island Packet 38, with her husband Marty and their cat Lily.

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