Special Harbor Rules

Question 1

1. COLREGS

Answer 1

72 COLREGS apply and are enforced by USCG.

Question 2

2. Pilotage

Answer 2

Pilotage is compulsory for all foreign vessels and U.S. vessels engaged in foreign trade. Pilotage is optional for U.S. vessels engaged in the coastwise trade with a federally licensed pilot on board.

Question 3

3. Local magnetic disturbance

Answer 3

Local magnetic disturbance. - Differences of as much as 3° from normal variation have been observed along Henderson Inlet.

Question 4

4. Balch Passage

Answer 4

The channel through Balch Passage is only about 100 yards wide between the 10-fathom curves, and the scale of the chart is small. Vessels should stay carefully in midchannel, traffic permitting.

Question 5

5. Squaxin Passage

Answer 5

Squaxin Passage - The passage is narrow, and strangers should proceed with caution. The S shore should be favored, and, at the W end, the N point of Steamboat Island should be favored. The principal danger in the passage is a reef which bares at extreme low water, SE of Hope Island; a buoy is near its S end. This reef is easily avoided by keeping the N point of Steamboat Island well open of the S point of Hope Island.