This is a lovely, pretty quiet park on Vashon. We walked a little over 0.5 miles downhill to get to…read morethe beach area, and there's a little pavilion there too. We came on a cloudy day so didn't get the views that others have mentioned, but we will enjoyed the views and exploring near the water! Of course if there's a walk downhill to get there, there's a walk uphill to get back!

What a grand hike!! Today I am a great hiker and tomorrow I will be resting and relaxing by the hot…read moretub!

Once again, thank you Yelp! I found this gem of a nature preserve on Yelp. I don't think I would…read morehave ever found it if not for Yelp. The drive down the road to get here was itself an adventure. Down through a fern covered small valley it seemed. A small parking lot with one port a potty let me know I'd arrived. There are a couple trails you take. I took the one to the cove. Short, easy and beautiful. Come and explore. Next time, I'll wear walking shoes/ hiking shoes to explore more. Have fun peeps! SYOY!

This is a public park, but one that is not very well known, which is why I wanted to review it…read more Fern Cove is an estuarine, freshwater, and terrestrial conservancy located on the northwest end of Vashon Island. Although the official address for this lovely stretch of Vashon shoreline is listed as being on Cedarhurst Rd, you can also access the beach almost directly via Southwest McCormick Place. Either make your way down McCormick Place or park across the street from the Belle Baldwin House and walk towards the water's edge. Do so and you won't be disappointed! There is a huge stretch of tidal mudflat featuring lovely eelgrass beds teeming with a diversity of algae, macroalgae (seaweeds) and invertebrate life, from juvenile fish, crabs, and of course, geoducks too. Just please be respectful of the shoreline and the marine life. Please do NOT litter here, and don't take anything out of the water to take home. Respect the environment to keep this place a gorgeous natural habitat for future generations to visit and enjoy.

Very nice little park with swings and slides for the kids and a picnic pavilion. Rustic bathrooms…read moreare available year round. The pier is closed for evaluation and repair work during our visit. Good amount of parking. Long, pebbly beach to walk along.

I feel this is a park that only the residents of Brown's Point know about or very long time Tacoma…read moreresidents. For one there's no sign to direct you and the road narrows from the main one. This park is also not associated with Dash Point State Park which is right up the road. This Dash Point Park and Pier is a Tacoma city park. The view here is great as right across from the water is Vashon Island. You can see the ferry for the island as well at this vantage point. The pier is really great as it is long and goes a considerable ways out into the water. Other sights of interest is a old fountain with a historical sign filling you in on it's history. Definitely a great park tucked away in all of the housing.

We went to Dumas Bay Sanctuary for my daughter's pre-k field trip. What a fun find! I used to live…read morein the area and am shocked that we never made it here (we usually went to Dash Point though). It's tucked away kind of in a residential area, you'd never really know it's hidden back there without GPS or signs. Part of the reason for dinging a star is how crazy small the parking lot is. It can fit maybe 15 cars? And it's tight, so getting my three row SUV in and out of there was kinda tough. Getting down to the water is a little jaunt, but not difficult. It's about a five minute walk down a gravel path and then it opens up to the beach. It was so nice because there was practically no one there! Maybe one or two people who were walking their dogs but that's it. It's definitely on the small side for a beach but it was perfect for our group of little ones and I could definitely see coming back with my kids for a quiet beach day without a lot of people. There's plenty of nice logs to sit on and plenty of soft-ish patches of sand to set up blankets and chairs if desired. I wouldn't say this is a good place to tidepool or find a lot, but the kids did manage to find quite a few little crabs, sand dollars, and even a sea anemone at one point. Overall this was a great end of the year field trip and a fun find! I think we'll definitely come back for another visit this summer.

Dumas Bay was pretty and a good access point to the beach, but it's tiny and you should wear rain…read moreboots if you plan on walking the beach. The actual Dumas Bay boundaries are little, but we ventured outside of that. So, the tide was low when we went and we walked all the way to Dash Point, but I felt like the walk was so wet, rough (rocky) and long that we took the road back. That's dangerous so I wouldn't recommend that to anyone. But during our walk on the beach we did see many nice things. Kelp, sand dollars, clam shells I think, birds, etc. If you want a quick breath of fresh air and scenery and don't want to do much exercising, this is a great place.

I love our trips to Vashon Island and it's just a hop, skip and a jump from Tacoma after getting on…read morethe ferry. It's close to home but it feels like you traveled a ways to get there. Mainly because the vibe is so different. We have to go get at least a couple meals in downtown Vashon and it's always important not to miss going to the Point Robinson Lighthouse and enjoying the building and the view from the beach. Of course strolling along the beach is a lot of fun too as long as the weather is in a cooperative mood. One year we came here around Christmas and some buildings that are normally closed to the public were open and they had beautiful Christmas decorations and we could even go in the guest house and have some cookies and hot cider. That was an amazing perk! It's a bit busier around here now with one of Thomas Dambo's troll statues being nearby but the statue and of course the lighthouse and the park are well worth going to.

One of Vashon's secret park for those of us who don't frequent the island much. The view of Federal…read moreWays waterfront (Redondo Beach) is exceptional! There is a panoramic view to watch planes take off and land at Seattle/Tacoma International airport.

Cute little park area near the Bremerton ferry terminal and downtown. I had some time to explore…read morenear my hotel and the Harborside Fountain Park was an easy walk. The same designers for the famous Fountains at the Bellagio in Las Vegas designed this park. They built interpretations of an armada of battleships - 6 fountains spaced out. And at choreagraphed times, each fountain explodes with bursts of water from the top, one at a time, which is also symbolic of the volcanic activity in the area (think of Mount St. Helens and Mount Rainier/Tahoma as they are active volcanoes). It was a hot, summer weekday when I visited and there were some families with their kids enjoying the water in the fountains. It's a nice way to spend an summer afternoon by the water. There are tables and chairs so you can easily have a picnic while there.

Yay! I'm a fan! This…read moreis kid friendly destination is just off the Seattle to Bremerton ferry terminal and next to the Naval Museum. The fountain itself is pretty unique looking. Large, volcano shaped metallic features (about 5) simulating whale blow holes, surrounded by shallow pools. Intermittently these things blow water out the top to the delight of all the toddlers splooshing around the pools. I guess wading is allowed although I would think twice with all the tots with diapers marinating in the shallow water. A nice feature to the Bremerton waterfront.

This is a nice little spot to view the Arletta-Hale passage between Fox Island and the mainland…read more The sand spit also offers a place to watch for whale where they've been previously sighted (not on land, but at sea. Only one or two whale could fit on the spit at the same time). Like islanders of other varieties, some of the locals here are ultra-protective of this piece of "their" real estate, and outsiders are not welcome. The website and FAQ regarding this place come laden with more dire warnings than actual descriptions of the park, complete with a long list of "do not...or else's..." Part of what the locals "do not" want you to do is know about clay babies, an extremely unique geological phenomenon that is neither rock nor baby, but looks like a little voodoo doll or ginger bread man made by the earth, and found only a tiny handful of places in the world--including here. The locals may also not want you to know that Fox Island, and this portion of it, is one of the best (and only) places in the Tacoma metro area for safe shellfish harvesting (according to the online WA DNR interactive shell fishing map), and the beach is crusted over with a carpet of oysters, cockles, manila and butter clams, and geoducks--all of which seen to reach titanic sizes here, judging by the shells seen at low tides. The clams were so numerous and joyful, they were squirting and putting on such shoes that my fiancee likened it to the Bellahio fountains in Las Vegas. I pictured Beethoven's 9th playing as each one spurted higher into the air. And speaking of tides, their proximity to the high tide mark makes the park a great place to view these attractions, since you do not require a minus tide to see a vast array of salty critters here (even a .5 tide will reveal much). Seeing scuttling crabs, tiny anemones, barnacle skyscrapers, many species of clam, sea boogers, and other tiny, sticky things that cling to other tiny, sticky things--as well as funky chunkies, clay babes, muck suckers, and mud bumps only adds to one's sense of awe and wonder regarding the resplendent natural universe. Seeing these tiny sand travelers reminds us how little humans are, and what small a part human nature plays when immersed in the vast firmament of time. Here is a song about what not to do: If you're alive, do not breathe, and if you're here you need to leave Don't pick babes out of the clay But picking nits is quite okay If you park your car they'll hem and haw If your pup is loose they'll smack your paw. They'll stare at you with folded arms Pray they don't hit five alarms. Fear Fox Island Citizen Patrol And the disapproving eyes that roll While watching whales they're watching you You don't belong you best begone, their view Do not stop, do not get out Or risk a frown on pouty snouts

Such a fun sandspit park! We went during low tide and we're excited to see jellyfish, plenty of…read moretiny crabs, and several starfish! The clams were spitting up through the sand which was fun. Very beautiful place.

We enjoyed this little beach area a lot on our day trip out on the peninsula from Tacoma. They had…read more A water spigot and toilets (non-flushable). There were a bunch of tiny crabs all in the rocks, herons on the dock, and jellyfish in the water. It was pretty clean with a boat launch and again, it was puppy approved.

Stopped in while taking a drive along the Key Peninsula Highway. There is a day use fee of $10 or a…read morevalid Discovery Pass. We were just passing through and wanted to take our pups out to potty, so we parked in the 15-minute/no fee required parking area. That also gave us enough time to walk down on the dock and take in the gorgeous view! Staff was friendly. They really do a nice job of keeping the park clean. There are quite a few picnic tables available, and there's a family picnic area with a BBQ. There are a few life jackets available for use down by the dock as well. We didn't use the restrooms, but they were open and available. We enjoyed our short visit here. Would recommend.