New home for Seattle fishermen - Fishermen's Terminal

New home for Seattle fishermen The bustle and clamor of a working boat basin is balm to the souls of Puget Sound residents. If you're visiting Seattle, nowhere is the magic so accessible as at the renovated Fishermen's Terminal, home to the sound's biggest fishing fleet.

Winter--while skippers are in port making repairs--is the best time to visit. Amid the forest of masts sprouting from some 700 boats, you can walk the piers and watch as fishermen mend nets, caulk hulls, tinker with engines. You see trollers and trawlers, seiners and crabbers, long-liners, gill-netters, and huge factory ships.

See the harborfront plaza with its 30-foot-tall memorial to fishermen lost at sea. Or pedal along a new bike path.

This colorful concentration opens a window on what Patricia Davis, the Port of Seattle Commission's president, calls "the capital of the U.S. fishing industry." After renovation, the terminal reopened late last year with more room for the factory vessels now working Alaska's booming Bering Sea fishing grounds, as well as more restaurants and stores.

Shopping and eating: honest and real

Every business at the terminal must sell wares or services for fishermen (no cutesy tourist traps here). A handful of shops sell nautical charts, marine hardware, and paint. A fish marked opened this fall.

Restaurants include Chinook's, which has views and an extensive menu (no reservations); Little Chinook's offers fish and chips and other take-out foods. The Bay Cafe opens early with Greek omelets and homey fare. The Highliner Tavern is a fishermen's pub with local beer and ale on tap and good hamburgers. All restuarants and most shops are open daily.

The terminal, at 1735 W. Thurman Street, is on Salmon Bay between Magnoliga and Ballard (follow signs from 15th Avenue W.).