Quartermaster Harbor

Quartermaster Harbor is a small harbor located in southern Puget Sound, in Vashon Island, Washington State.

Quartermaster Harbor is formed by Vashon Island on the west and Maury Island on the east. It opens about 0.8-mile (1.3 km) east of the Tahlequah, Washington ferry landing at the south end of Vashon Island, with the entrance between Neill Point on Vashon Island and Piner Point on Maury Island. It is a nearly five-mile-long inlet, about a half-mile wide, that extends about 3.5 miles (5.6 km) north between the islands. It then turns east into the bay at Dockton, swings north around Burton Peninsula, past Portage and turns west, ending in the "inner harbor" at Burton.

The harbor is sheltered and has no commercial marine traffic. The harbor itself is shallow, with a maximum depth of about ten meters at high tide. The bottom is sand and mud with abundant shellfish. Evergreen trees line the shores and climb the hills above Quartermaster Harbor, with heights rising to over 400 feet (120 m) on both islands. There are good anchorages as well as several places to moor in the north end of the harbor.

Quartermaster Harbor hosts the largest spawning population of Pacific herring in south Puget Sound, and is also a major spawning area for surf smelt. The narrow strip of land between the two islands contains a small saltwater marsh. It is part of the Washington State Department of Natural Resources Maury Island Environmental Aquatic Reserve.

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