Meet the curly redheaded 'pirate’ who became a beloved Gig Harbor influencer
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Scott Goerig runs Deadmans Island Kayak & SUP Rentals and Tours in Gig Harbor.
- He’s gained over 65,000 Instagram followers with his hyper-local, hilarious videos.
- Goerig says he’s driven by a love for community and for his hometown.
Who is that curly redheaded dude dunking himself into the frigid waters of the Puget Sound on your TikTok feed?
Meet Scott Goerig, owner of Deadmans Island Kayak & Standup Paddleboard (SUP) Rental & Tours and one of Gig Harbor’s most beloved influencers.
For the last three years, Goerig’s laugh-out-loud, sun-drenched videos often narrated with his raspy pirate persona have spotlighted what makes the Gig Harbor area special, from breathtaking sunsets over Carr Inlet to beloved restaurants and small businesses. He’s since gained over 65,000 followers on Instagram and is also on TikTok and Facebook.
Born in Gig Harbor, Goerig spent his childhood in Horsehead Bay, playing in the same Puget Sound waterways where he now guides kayakers and paddleboarders. A love for Gig Harbor comes out in everything he does, he told The News Tribune.
“I’m just saying, I make it hyper-focused locally on purpose,” Goerig said. “Hashtags, the words I use, the content within it, everything is all about local, local, local, local.”
He’s never tried to go viral, he said. But people come up to him every day, saying that they love his content.
“It’s bizarre to me. Because here I am, just putting it up there. It’s not like I have a brand deal, you know what I’m saying?” Goerig said. “No, just a dude making this stuff. So that makes me want to give even more.”
How it all started
After owning a bar in Seattle, then spending a decade working in construction staffing, Goerig moved back to Gig Harbor after his mom was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. He took care of her at home until her death in 2021.
“I’ll never do anything as consequential in my life as doing that,” he said. “I gave her quality of life all the way until her last breath.”
After her passing, Goerig wondered what to do next. He decided to start his own kayak and paddleboard rental business because of how well he knew the local waterways. With the help of his cousin, Kris Quigley, Goerig launched Deadman’s Island Kayak & Standup Paddleboard Rentals and started delivering the rentals to local beaches.
That’s when he started doing social media.
“I started getting in the water with them, and I started taking video, and I started cold plunging, and then I was like, ‘Oh, I should cold plunge year round,’ so I would do it, and I would post it, and I would post it.”
He still wasn’t feeling fulfilled.
“I still had a hole in my soul,” he said. “My mom was my best friend ... suddenly, like the universe just started opening up, little by little.”
A friend encouraged him to join Kiwanis, he said. Then another person invited him to join the local Rotary Club. He soon learned of other community organizations and the Gig Harbor Chamber of Commerce and its tourism arm, Visit Gig Harbor.
“Suddenly I started realizing that, like, wow, giving back is like truly what was missing,” said Goerig. “So it changed my entire life, like one million percent. It was mind-blowing to me how much it changed it.”
He started making videos to promote the organizations he was involved in or volunteering for. Then he started giving shout-outs to small businesses like his own. In the early days, he didn’t know what he was doing, he said. It started just by walking into a place and hitting record. But he loved it: timing the shots, adding the right music, evoking emotion.
He still gets way too much footage, barely scripts and leans into the spontaneity.
“I never know what I’m gonna use, but I know that I have to just go in and be me,” he said.
Some of his favorite videos capture the nostalgia of what Goerig called being a “Gig Harbor OG.” He’s partnered with Gig Harbor realtor Lindsay Jackman to shoot a few videos of them joking about what it was like growing up in the ‘80s and ‘90s. In one video, the two walked around town and pointed out what businesses used to be when they were kids. People loved it, he said.
Goerig still makes much of his content for free, but around six to eight months ago, he founded his own media company because people were starting to approach him with requests. His earnings from Goegig Media provide him with some additional revenue in the winter, which is off-season for kayaking and paddle boarding, he said.
Just a little bit of adventure
On a cool evening June 10, The News Tribune kayaked with Goerig and his dog, Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, to Deadman’s Island. His beloved “first mate” is half-Lab, half-Australian shepherd and likes to sit on Goerig’s paddle board as they float through the water.
A dreamlike stillness lay over the inlet, broken only by the gentle splashes of paddles in the glass expanse. Seals floated just yards away, and below, thousands of dark purple sand dollars lay in the shallows — what Goerig calls “sand dollar city.”
Only accessible by boat or board, the island known locally as Deadman’s Island is actually called Cutts Island Marine State Park. A small forest takes up most of the island, overlooking a sandy shore strewn with small rocks and crushed seashells; within the forest, visitors can spot goose eggs hidden along dirt trails, bounded by tall Pacific madrones. It takes a short scramble to ascend the tall banks, but viewers are rewarded with panoramic views of Carr Inlet, the Key Peninsula, Raft Island and Henderson Bay.
Goerig calls the forest “Narnia” — a step into another world full of imagination and adventure. He just turned 50 and has been coming to the island since he was a kid. It became a place of healing for him after his mother’s passing, he told The News Tribune.
Now, it’s a place he shares with others through his kayak and paddle board excursions.
“I make it a full immersive adventure from the beginning, the start,” he said. “I’m in the water with them. I’m launching it. I’m taking pictures of them with the Goonies flag. I’m taking pictures of them when they’re in the water.”
If the timing works out, he gets up on the Raft Island Bridge to take a picture of the group with the island in the background.
“It’s just really special,” he said.
Deadman’s Island Kayak + SUP has racked up awards in recent years: it was named Best of the PNW from The Seattle Times and Best of South Sound from The Olympian last year, both in the Family Attraction category. The business also won Best Local Adventure from Showcase Magazine in 2025. In March, the Gig Harbor Chamber of Commerce recognized the business as Emerging Business of the Year, and Goerig was also one of five nominees for Citizen of the Year.
Beginner kayakers and paddle boarders are typically limited to the safe waters of a marina or taking a full-on adventure tour, Goerig said. But his trips are all about giving “beginners the ability to see stuff that they shouldn’t be able to see,” made possible in the protected waters of Carr Inlet.
Passing the waterfront homes on his way to Deadman’s Island, Goerig joked about the amount of wealth he’s surrounded by.
“And then I’m just, like, dude with a trailer and a dream,” he said.
