MARROWSTONE ISLAND — The Inter-Tribal Canoe Journey will continue today in the wake of Wednesday’s drowning of a canoeist off Dungeness Spit.
The next stop will be split between Fort Flagler State Park on Marrowstone Island and Port Gamble in Kitsap County.
According to plans developed before Wednesday afternoon, as many as 18 canoes are expected to arrive at the top of Marrowstone Island between noon and 2 p.m. today.
In previous years, the tribal canoeists docked their colorful canoes at Point Hudson in Port Townsend, but Mary McQuillen, a Makah tribal elder who’s lived in Port Townsend since 1955, said the more pristine Fort Flagler will be used.
This is the fourth year that the Canoe Journey has stopped along Port Townsend Bay.
McQuillen said the men and women will be supplied with water, juice and fresh fruit upon their arrival at Fort Flagler.
They will spend the day singing songs and dancing, and at night perhaps enjoy a campfire, said McQuillen.
They will camp overnight at the state park, then continue on their journey to Port Gamble on the Kitsap Peninsula on Friday to join the other canoes paddling there today.
