Bainbridge is now officially floating in the “Salish Sea.”

The Washington State Board on Geographic Names voted today to bestow the Salish Sea name upon the waterway stretching from Olympia to Quadra Island in British Columbia.

Read about it in Chris Dunagan’s story.

Don’t worry, “Puget Sound” is sticking around. It’s just being rolled into a bigger body of water that includes the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Strait of Georgia.

Didn’t know we had a board of geographic names? Read more about them here.

The state was quick to quash a nascent plan Eagle Harbor’s liveaboards drafted as a last-ditch effort to save their anchored-out community.

After reading in today’s Kitsap Sun of a liveaboard group’s proposal to forgo the city’s open water marina and lease buoys directly from the state, the Department of Natural Resources’ Bridget Moran sent me this note:

“I thought it would be worthwhile to share with you, as we have with the City of Bainbridge Island, that the option that was put forth by the Boaters and Mariners of Bainbridge Island (BAMBI) is not a legal option. Only local government entities may establish an open water marina for residence.”

So it looks like the city plan is still the liveaboards’ only option. That, of course, doesn’t sit well with liveaboards who say the city plan to save their community will actually end their community.

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