Another Example of Wonderful Washington Names

Useless Bay Sign courtesy of John Klein

We love the quirky names found in Washington State. We never tire of hearing of places with names like Zillah, Hooker's Cove, Sequim, and our life-long personal favorite Humptulips. But Humptulips might have to make way for a new-found favorite, Useless Bay.

Apparently, Useless Bay is located off Whidbey Island and was so named because it was too shallow for the tall ships of yore to explore. Yesterday, a local kite surfer also found the Bay to be less than helpful, after he got stuck for over four hours with no wind. The would-be kite surfer had to be rescued by a fishing boat.

While the rest of the local news are focusing their stories on the kite surfer, the best part of the story to us was the apt name of the rescue's location. We can just imagine the guy looking at the still water in frustration and cursing aloud, "Goddamned Useless Bay!"