Whidbey Island and on to the Olympic Peninsula

Whidbey Island is 30 miles north of Seattle. About 60,000 people live on Whidbey Island which is 35 miles long and between 1.5 to 12 miles wide.

The only bridge that reaches Whidbey Island is the Deception Pass Bridge on Hwy 20 - we take it. We will explore Whidbey then go south by ferry onto the Olympic Peninsula.

I did some research into Deception Pass Bridge and was a bit nervous about crossing it in the motorhome.  My worries are groundless - it is a lovely drive. We park and walk back across the bridge - a spectacular view.

Must be the day for bridges!

We see a sealion swimming in the waters under the Deception Pass Bridge. I am just about to take a photo and .. it dives!







Whidbey Island is beautiful! I don't know what it is like here in the winter. We are having great weather in late summer and the island is a picture.


From rural countryside to the mountain scenery of Deception Pass State Park - we are overwhelmed by the beauty of nature.

Oak Harbor is the largest town on the island. It has a population of about 20,000.


We toy with the idea of parking up in a state park in the middle of town. Then we discover there is a music festival on at the Town Oval. We 'ride on'.


Labour Day weekend is this coming weekend; we need to make reservations ahead of time and book a rental car for the long weekend.

As we set up at the North Whidbey RV Park we find that the awning won't open. Buggar!
Fortunately an RV service man is doing some work for the guy next to us; he has a look at the awning and diagnoses that the awning motor has burnt out.
Also fortunately for us we are not trying to get the awning in when the motor goes ... the diagram in the Manual for a manual closure of the awning looks really difficult.
We make arrangements to call into an RV Service Centre when we get onto the Olympic Peninsula. It looks as if we will need a new motor; with the long weekend approaching we may have to stay in one place for several days.

I am lucky to walk on a damp, misty morning; not another person in sight, no cars even. I walk down Cornet Bay Road with no idea where it might lead. After about 15 minutes I turn a bend in the road and there is Cornet Bay. Mist and fog are hanging over the shores of the bay; it is just daylight. Postcard scenes and a magic walk! As the fog lifts I can see islands, bays, fishing boats - a real settlement. There are 2 deer on a lawn down by the water! I go around the Bay then return by the same road. Wow!


We access the Olympic Peninsula by ferry from Coupeville to Port Townsend. After the fine weather it rained overnight and is a rainy morning; things are a bit damp. The sky is very overcast but it isn't cold.










We are booked on the 9.30 ferry. We leave the RV Park at 7.45 - we are early but that's OK. Of course we arrive at the Ferry Terminal really early which means that we are first on when they start loading. Yep - we are right in the front!

The gps knows where we are!

The view from the RV!

The ferry ride is very smooth - the ferry is large; the water is calm.
We have a smooth disembark and then we are driving through Port Townsend, south to Sequim about 30 miles away.

Sequim, pronounced  'skwim', is where we will have the awning checked out - at Eric's RV Service Centre.

We are then heading to Port Angeles, west of Sequim where we have an RV site booked for 5 days over the Labour Day weekend.





The showers are lifting; it is a lovely drive beside Discovery Bay with tantalising glimpses through the trees out to the Bay.

Olympic Peninsular is surrounded on 3 sides by water - the Pacific Ocean, the Strait of Juan de Fuca and Puget Sound - giving it the feel of a rather large, remote island. The interior of the Peninsular has no roads; it is taken up by the Olympic National Park. We will access the Park from Port Angeles, one of the northern entrances.

But first, we have the RV awning checked. We do need a new motor for it; that has to come from Oregon and will take a few days. The good news is that as the awning is just out of guarantee (as is often the case), we will only be charged 50% of the price of a new awning motor.