Click above to buy an hour of rowing on Lake Union and an annual individual membership to the Center for Wooden Boats.

Buy here for an hour of rowing on Lake Union and an annual household membership to the CWB for $22 (up to a $75 value).

Bodies of water are frequent metaphors in poetry, perhaps due to their unfathomable depths, unknowable sprawl, and unattainable porpoises. Get a little closer to the world's wettest enigmas with today's Groupon to the Center for Wooden Boats: for $15, you get an annual individual membership (a $40 value), or for $22, you get an annual household membership (a $55 value) to this hands-on "living museum" located on South Lake Union. The individual membership covers one person, while the household membership covers any number of people living at the same address. Either option also includes one hour of rowing for two to four people, based on boat availability (up to $20 value).

The Center for Wooden Boats is an off-the-beaten-horse establishment—part museum, part boat-rental facility, part workshop, and part school. The membership benefits include 20% to 30% off on future rowboat and sailboat rentals, 10% off on all gift-shop purchases, 10% off the CWB's workshops or classes, personal invitations to members-only events, a subscription to the bi-monthly newsletter Shavings, and discounts to local retailers and service providers. Members also have the satisfaction of supporting a homegrown not-for-profit and cultural establishment. The included hour of rowboat rental takes place inside four-person vessels. Invite three of your friends (they don't need to be members) to coolly coast atop the blue hues of Lake Union. The last boat rentals are available around one hour before dusk or 6:45 p.m. in the summer. A basic demonstration of sailing skills is required before sailboat rentals are issued.

The CWB is widely utilized for its workshops and classes on everything from sailing techniques and nautical photography to kayak making, Norwegian pram building, and bronze casting. A variety of volunteer options are available both at Lake Union and at the CWB's other home at Cama Beach. If you already have boating experience, take those skills out of the dock and deploy them through vigorous volunteering. If you're new to the world of aquatic activities, volunteer gigs are an ideal way to gain hands-on experience. Some join the CWB for a chance to work with wood, others to stave off boredom, and that one guy did it with hopes of spotting a mermaid; whatever the motivation, an individual or household membership to the CWB will satisfy caged nautical yearnings.

Reviews

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer highly recommends the Center for Wooden Boats:

• Wagner's passion for boats -- and his wife's passion for creating a place for wooden-boat fanatics to congregate -- has transformed the south end of Lake Union into a picnic-perfect maritime park that transports visitors into the living past while ushering them into a very promising future. On any day of the week, the center is a beehive of wide-eyed, first-time visitors, enthusiastic volunteers who seem to have overdosed on happy pills, and bubbly staff members clad in worn khaki shorts and oil-stained T-shirts. – Liza Tewell, Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Three Judy's Book users give it a 4.7-star rating, Yelpers give it 4.5 stars, and three Insider Pages users give it four:

• The CWB is much more than a maritime museum and is one of the only places in the country that preserves old boatbuilding ways...On a summer day, there's nothing better than walking around the piers and viewing so many beautifully restored boats on display, including some large specimens, which offer tours. – Leslie L., Insider Pages

Customer Reviews