Whidbey Island – Riveted

Langley to Coupeville | Whidbey Island

Laura Domela — Wed, 15 Feb 2017 17:53:18 +0000

Sunset light from the dock Monday night at Langley:

We had a lovely dinner at Prima Bistro (and, after looking at the blog post from our last visit, it turns out we ordered the exact same thing as when we were here two years ago: bouillabaisse and the wild boar ragout over house-made pasta…predictable much?)

The weather was pretty and clear again in the morning and we left around 9:30am for Coupeville. It took us about 2.5 hours to get to Coupeville. By then it had gotten a little windy and cloudy. Our plan was to stop for lunch at Toby’s and then continue north to either LaConner or all the way to Anacortes.

We tied up at the wharf dock in Coupeville which is free during the day, then between 5pm-8pm changes to $5. We hear it’s about to change to $5 for 3 hours at all times of the day, and overnight will be somewhere just over a buck a foot. There were two guys out repairing things on the dock, and it was actually looking pretty good. No upgrades (like water or power) are planned.

Downtown Coupeville (“A Touch of Dutch” on the corner):

There was a guy (Chris) walking around town in a dinosaur costume handing out Valentine’s Day cards (from “Chris” to “a friend”) attached to small bags of candy hearts. He came into Toby’s while we were having lunch and walked around the restaurant handing out Valentines to the customers and the servers.

Then he sat at the bar and had a beer (the server told him it was her Valentine to him). His dinosaur did not look all that happy being smushed onto the bar stool, but I overheard him telling the server how much fun he was having in his costume, passing out Valentines. It was pretty sweet.

We left Coupeville and decided that we’d probably go all the way to Anacortes. The forecast for today was and still is 25-35 knots, wind waves 3-5 feet. Here in the marina it’s raining and gusting to about 30kts, so it’s a nice day to be tucked in and catching up on work and boat projects.

Blurry Wildlife

Laura Domela — Mon, 19 Jan 2015 14:01:38 +0000

Last night I was in bed reading and I heard a little "clomp clomp clomp" above my head so I bolted up to go see what it was (didn't sound like a bird). From the pilot house I looked out toward the bow and up pops the little head of an otter! I could see his breath against the darkness, even! He came around to the dockside pilothouse door, looked in at me, and then hopped down onto the dock. I quickly grabbed my camera but it all happened too fast to get a good shot. (Also, I tend to look at the thing happening far too long with my eyes before I think to grab the camera…I know, some photographer I am!)

Otter, looking left:

I stood outside and watched several of the otter clan splashing around on and off the dock with their midnight snacks. They hopped off an onto the swimstep of a nearby boat…I figured that's how they got onto our boat as well.

Here's a blurry heron a few pilings over:

This morning I got up and was taking a couple photos of the bay here (those weren't blurry), and I noticed about ten feet from the boat, two seabirds fighting over a pretty good sized fish. I watched for a few seconds, then thought "oh hey, I should grab my camera" and as soon as I turned away a giant bald eagle swooped down in an attempt to steal their fish!

The wildlife around here is just too fast for me!

We're headed down to Poulsbo, WA today. Here's what it looks like here this morning:

Slow Day in Langley

Laura Domela — Sun, 18 Jan 2015 21:20:33 +0000

(We're there on the outside dock on the right, inside the breakwater)

We left the boat and headed into town about 45 minutes after the Seahawks playoff game had gotten underway (a big deal around these parts), and the streets were deserted. ("They're all dead inside!")

We wandered over to grab lunch at Kalakala Co. Mercantile, where we shared a bowl of ramen and an Italian panini — both were great. Kalakala is super cool inside. All the stuff is handmade and for sale (most if not all of it by local artists/artisans, I believe):

I love these twig/branch square tables:

After lunch we walked around town a bit and then met up with our friends Rose and Eric and their three boys for some catching up. Here's their youngest with his Seattle Sounders scarf and matching glasses (Seahawks? What Seahawks?):

We had a great visit and now we're back at the boat. It's raining a bit and the wind has picked up again, but it's supposed to be calm for our cruise down to Poulsbo tomorrow morning.

LaConner to Langley

Laura Domela — Sat, 17 Jan 2015 22:00:34 +0000

We left LaConner early this morning around 9am. I know, that's not super early, but by the time we left we'd both showered and cooked breakfast and made coffee and topped off our water tank, so considering all of that, it was early!

On our way through the lower part of the Swinomish Channel we saw many, many geese flying in cool formation overhead:

And then just out from Maple Grove Beach on the northwest tip of Camano Island, our sonar was picking up SO MANY FISH! For about 10 minutes we had solid lines of fish showing up at about 75 ft, like this:

Wouldn't it be cool if it just showed you the orcas, like this, just once?

We got into Langley (on Whidbey Island) at around 12:30pm, washed off the boat, paid for two nights, and headed up into town for some food and some wandering. We had lunch (and delicious espresso drinks) at Useless Bay Coffee Company. Look at Kevin's latte art:

We shared a jalapeno burger and some fish tacos and both plates were excellent! After lunch we stopped at Callahan's Firehouse to watch some glass blowing. Next we stopped into The Star Store and picked up a few things: a nice pair of wool fingerless gloves for Kevin, a pretty sweater for me, a new tea towel for the galley, and a proper captain's hat for whoever happens to be manning the helm. Score!

Next we stopped in at the Ott & Murphy Winery Tasting Room for a little wine tasting (with a view!):

We shared one tasting and brought 4 bottles back to put in Airship's wine cellar: a viognier, a syrah, and two bottles of their red blend called L'Entente (syrah, petite syrah, mourvedre, and viognier).

Here's a quick snap of the (full!) wine cellar:

Now we're just chillin at the boat (watching Deadliest Catch, heh). It's rainy and a bit windy outside and we plan to stay put and wait out what is supposed to be a windy day tomorrow.

Tomorrow we'll go back up into town and explore some more, and probably hit Kalakala for lunch. When we passed by today it looked like they had a couple of ramen specials that sounded perfect for a gray rainy Sunday.

Gray marina at Langley:

Tonight we're going to use some of the pulled pork we made and froze at home last week in some Cubano sandwiches. (Kevin brined the meat for 4 hours, smoked it for 4 hours, cooked it in the sous vide for 60 hours, then finished it on a hot grill to get a good bark on the outside. I made a Carolina vinegar sauce for it — apple cider vinegar, red chili flakes, sugar, soy sauce, ketchup, and pepper.) It came out so good and works wonderfully on a Cubano.

Oh yeah, I forgot to post these shots from yesterday. This is as we were about to enter the Swinomish Channel, between Anacortes and LaConner:

Here's a map of today's route (about 30 nautical miles):

No whales today, but we did see a few seals and some porpoises. They're out here though…we'll see some this trip…I just know it.

Langley to Port Townsend

Laura Domela — Wed, 26 Nov 2014 00:55:49 +0000

This morning we got up early and worked a bunch, had some breakfast, and then decided to take one more quick walk up the hill into town before heading for Port Townsend. Langley is such a cute town, even in the drizzly gray.

On the way out of the marina, more of these cool birds. If someone knows what they're called, please tell me. I googled up a storm and still didn't find them. Found the Mergansers, but the ones I saw had different markings:

Here's a blurry closeup of the one with the cool paint job:

The trip around the southern tip of Whidbey and up to Port Townsend was calm and uneventful. A little rainy and gray, but calm waters and beautiful scenery.

Update: Thanks readers! It's a Barrow's Goldeneye!

Arriving at Port Townsend:

We stopped at the Port Townsend Boat Haven Marina first and made a quick trip across the street to West Marine. (Oh, it was nothing, we just, um, lost one of our fenders somewhere between LaConner and Langley…oops!). We then headed north a little ways to the Point Hudson Marina (the marinas are on either side of all the downtown cuteness) where we'll stay the night. I took some photos of town from the water as we passed by:

Our new spot at the Point Hudson Marina:

So, we're back where the whole boat thing started, back in July. Maybe you remember this photo (and subsequent blog posts) of the cute Ranger Tugs that caught our attention in the marina. This was taken from the dinette of the Airstream:

And here we are now with our Nordic Tug, and we couldn't be more thrilled:

(A little less crowded here in late November, isn't it? Still completely charming though!)

Tonight we walked the length of Water Street a couple times, and then came back to the marina and had an early dinner at Doc's Marina Grill. Doc's is convenient because it's right here at the marina/RV park, but we'd eaten there before so we thought we'd go try the well-Yelped Cellar Door in town tonight. Unfortunately, it looks like they had some kind of plumbing emergency and are closed. The sign on the door says they hope to be open on Saturday. Doc's was a good backup.

We'll check the weather again tomorrow morning and decide if we're going to stay here one more night, or head north to the islands!

Here's today's map:

Coupeville and Langley (Whidbey Island)

Laura Domela — Tue, 25 Nov 2014 02:07:07 +0000

This morning we got up early and after a shower and a quick breakfast we said goodbye to LaConner (above) and headed toward Coupeville, a small wharf town in Penn Cove on Whidbey Island.

Crumpled shack on the way out of the Swinomish Channel:

Bald eagle hanging out on a piling, watching us pass by:

Surf shack on Whidbey:

We decided to stop in Coupeville for some Penn Cove mussels at Toby's. Toby's is the red/white building on the left:

Approaching the wharf:

Docked and heading to town for lunch:

Not too busy at this time of year, is it?

Toby's is great…a dive(ish) bar, with really good steamed Penn Cove mussels with garlic bread.

A little view of our Airship out the window:

Perfect bar ambiance and super nice people.

And the mussels were REALLY good:

Here's our route from LaConner to Coupeville:

We headed back out to Airship after lunch and then made our way further south to Langley. The weather was kinda crappy, but still totally fun in the boat. Looking back from the pilothouse window:

A bit of wind, and some wind waves (2-4 feet) but Airship is so solid. Nothing creaks, clanks, or blams at all. Even in this!

We arrived in Langley and met up with some good friends (Hi Rose, Eric, Ben, Tim, Nate!) and it was a blast to have them on the boat with us for a bit (us there on the far right)! This is when we saw them last, on Whidbey with our Airstream (too long ago!)

After that visit we headed up into town to wander around a bit and popped in to say hi to some fellow Airstreaming friends who own the Poppybank Gallery (Hi Leslie & Chris!) It was nice to see their gallery finally (beautiful spot…if you're in Langley you should definitely stop in and check it out). They asked us if we had time to join them for a drink or for dinner, or if we had plans. Rose & Eric had recommended Prima Bistro, so we said we'd planned to go there, and it turns out…Leslie and Chris were planning to have dinner there tonight (it's Monday – bouillabaisse night!) so we all walked over and had a delicious meal there! Drinks, charcuterie, cheese, and then bouillabaisse and a wild boar ragout over house-made pasta (oh hi, Italy!) The food was fabulous, and we had a nice time catching up and visiting with Leslie and Chris. The last time we saw them was at Dave and Ann's Farmlet in Petaluma.

What a fun day on the water, and a great evening catching up with friends!

Oh, here's our route from Coupeville to Langley:

Foggy Ferry to Whidbey

Laura Domela — Wed, 09 Jul 2014 21:25:46 +0000

We packed up this morning and left our fabulous spot at Point Hudson Marina and headed over to catch the 12:30pm ferry from Port Townsend to Coupeville on Whidbey Island. We arrived at 11:45am and it was so uncrowded that we actually made the 11:45 ferry. Sweet! It was super foggy this morning and we had about 20 feet of visibility the whole ride to Whidbey.

Disappearing Port Townsend:

On the ferry:

We got to pull right onto the ferry taking up two lanes since we were almost the last ones on, and there was plenty of room (they told us to, we didn't just hog the space on our own). It was a nice change from the last ferry ride, smushed up against the wall with the mirrors all pulled in.

We went up to the top deck for the ride and watched for dolphins and orcas, but all we saw was fog and a few jellyfish…

…and this cool misty rainbow/halo thing around/over our heads off the side of the boat:

Deception Pass:

Here's a link to our last visit to Deception Pass (with lots more photos). It's so beautiful up here!

We stopped at a pullout at Pass Lake and had some lunch and did a bit of work in the Airstream. It's nice to always have an office/kitchen/coffee cart/restroom with us!

Once in Bellingham, I navigated us to a car wash I'd found online that sounded promising, called Sunset Car Wash, just off the freeway about 5 miles south of our destination. By "promising" how do the words "large RV bay with catwalk on both sides" sound? This place totally delivered. For $12 bucks we soaked, rinsed, foamed, waxed, wheel washed, and spot-proofed the Airstream (and then hand dried the whole thing ourselves). I love having a clean Airstream!

We're camped out in Bellingham for a few days with Leigh & Brian. Fun! Next stop: Vancouver Island!

Orcas Island with Tiffani and Deke

Laura Domela — Sun, 08 Jun 2014 00:55:17 +0000

Today we busted out the flying RV to go say goodbye (temporarily) to two of the coolest people we know. Tiffani and Deke are moving from Whidbey Island to North Carolina, and although we're happy for them, we're bummed for ourselves. We love these guys!

We flew up to Whidbey Island to pick them up and take them flying (and we got to see Kyle again, too! — Kyle stayed at our house for the several weeks we were in Italy, but we only got to see him for two days when we were home before he headed North.)

Taking off in Portland (this is what happens in photos when the prop is going around):

The flight up to Whidbey was incredible. We could see Mt. Baker, Mt. Rainier, Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Adams, Mt. Hood, and Mt. Jefferson all at the same time. Crazy!

Mt. Adams behind Mt. St. Helens, off the wing:

Flying into Oak Harbor. This runway is 3200 feet, but look how narrow it is…it's only 25ft wide (with a 1.6% downward slope the direction we were landing). It's there, right off the wing, running perpendicular to the shoreline (Tiffani took this photo when we came back, so I'm cheating and putting it out of order):

We were greeted enthusiastically at the Oak Harbor airport by Tiffani and Deke and Kyle. See the three of 'em there? (This photo was taken after the waving and jumping up and down had stopped):

"Take Tiffani and Deke flying" was still on our "Things To Do with Tiffani and Deke" list and we're SO happy we got to do this before they left! It was a blast!

We headed up to Orcas Island and parked in the grass area for visitors at the Eastsound airport. Kevin and Deke talking planes:

We walked into town and decided on a spot called The Madrona Bar & Grill (no idea how the food was going to be, but they were waterfront, and that's what mattered). Turns out the food was quite good!

We took a quick self-timer group photo (nice reflection in the wing!) before taking off for a bit of sightseeing around the San Juan Islands:

Tiffani and Deke each got some front seat time with a bit of flying. I think they dug it. (I'm sure of it, actually.) Eastsound Airport on Orcas, right off the wing:

We had such an amazing day with wonderful friends, good weather, beautiful scenery, and not enough time. We dropped Tiff and Deke off back on Whidbey Island and flew home, talking about our next across-the-country Airstream trip that will include North Carolina. We DO still have that whole upper right corner of the United States to explore!

Last Day on Whidbey Island

Laura Domela — Sat, 28 Jul 2012 20:50:32 +0000

Yesterday we left Fort Casey State Park and headed over to South Whidbey Island State Park to (1) dump our tanks (Fort Casey has no dump station) and (2) have lunch and do a little work while parked in the day use area. We took a detour through the (full) campground to check out the sites and they're pretty: wooded, close to the water (but no view spots), with trails through some beautiful old growth forests. After lunch and some work we did a hike down to the beach (I do mean down: .5 miles down and .5 miles back up).

Next, we headed over towards Langley to meet up with some old friends we hadn't seen in way too long. Rose and Eric have three boys (Ben, Tim, and Nate) and a great house on a couple of wooded acres up near Baby Island. They graciously invited us to come for dinner and stay the night on their property. We parked on…well, basically, in their front yard. Kind of gorgeous there:

Kevin took the hex up and got some fun footage of their house and property, and the boys were SO into it. They asked Kevin a million questions…it was really cute!

Eric made some fabulous homemade pizzas for dinner, and then we all went out in the backyard for a bonfire. I love this shot of the fire with the island truck full of stuff to burn:

They've got a nice variety of chickens:

Including this fluffy headed Silkie who wouldn't hold still long enough for me to get a good shot, but this'll give you an idea:

Ben feeding the chickens:

These little feather-footed ones don't like to be photographed, but I finally managed to catch 'em off guard:

The backyard is huge and they've got a fabulous garden with fruit trees and berries and lettuce and peas and and and….and a great play area for the kids. Check out this swingset they built from their own cut down trees (taken while Rose pushes Nate on the swing, and Tim explains something very important to me):

Rose and Eric were so sweet and sent us off with a dozen fresh eggs and a loaf of bread Eric baked the night before.

When we got out to the trailer, we had a guest. A guest who really, REALLY loved his beautiful reflection in the nice shiny truck:

(The neighbor's peacock)

On the way out we stopped at the Bayview Saturday Farmers Market, but parking was, um, scarce…so we just pulled into the (closed) business across the street and did a quick run through. We picked up some lunch and a few things and got back to the trailer in about 15 minutes. I'll definitely come back to this market with more time when we're back on the island.

We took the the Clinton-Mukilteo Ferry and now we're back in Bothell for the weekend. I've got a photo shoot in Seattle tomorrow…good excuse to visit with Tiffani and Deke for another day or so before heading home on Monday morning.

Deception Pass and Fidalgo Island/Bowman Bay

Laura Domela — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 01:47:12 +0000

Late this afternoon (after we finished a TON of work) we headed north to check out Deception Pass State Park. Again today, the weather was perfect. This is a lovely state park. Campsites are wooded and large. There's a lake (Cranberry Lake, good for kayaking and fishing, no motorized boats — electric okay) and nearby access to West Beach:

This is Cranberry Lake (totally mellow lake):

We headed back to the main road and crossed the bridge at Deception Pass, parked, and got out and wandered around a bit. Gorgeous.

We were down on this beach (North Beach) collecting more rocks to stick in the rock polisher when we're home next. (View from the Deception Pass Bridge):

View of the Deception Pass bridge from North Beach:

I loved this rock, but it was too big for the rock polisher (At least Kevin said it was — I wasn't totally certain). I opted just to take a photo of it and then threw it back. But now, as I'm posting this, I'm wishing I still had that dang rock. Call me Lucy. It's fine. Just look how cool those lines are…how they meet up and then don't meet up, interrupted by some dramatic geological event. Why didn't I keep that rock??

Okay so anyway…see this little island in the photo below? That's Strawberry Island. It's just past the bridge as you're coming in from Puget Sound. To the right of that island is Ben Ure Island. Well, I've got a story to tell you about ol' Ben Ure.

According to Wikipedia:

In the waters of Deception Pass, just east of the present-day Deception Pass Bridge, is a small island known as Ben Ure Island. The island became infamous for its activity of smuggling illegal Chinese immigrants for local labor. Ure and his partner Lawrence "Pirate" Kelly were quite profitable at their smuggling business and played hide-and-seek with the United States Customs Department for years. Ure's own operation at Deception Pass in the late 1880s consisted of Ure and his Native-American wife. Local tradition has it that his wife would camp on the nearby Strawberry Island (which was visible from the open sea) and signal him with a fire on the island's summit to alert him to whether or not it was safe to bring his illegal cargo ashore. For transport, Ure would tie the illegal immigrants up in burlap bags so that if customs agents were to approach then he could easily toss the bags overboard. The tidal currents would carry the discarded immigrants' bodies to San Juan Island to the north and west of the pass and many ended up in what became known as Dead Man's Bay.

Not a cool guy. At all. And interesting that they chose the term "illegal Chinese immigrants" as a euphamism for "slaves."

Seaweed in the current, taken from the bridge:

Deception Island and Puget Sound, from the bridge:

Under the bridge:

We kept on heading north for a little bit thinking we'd turn around when it was convenient. I looked at the map and noted there was a bay pretty close called Bowman Bay and thought we could check it out and then turn around and head back. We thought we might take the Hobie out at Oak Harbor and sail around there and Penn Cove this evening on the way home. But when we got to Bowman Bay, it was so pretty and it looked like there was a little wind picking up so we opted to sail here.

Here's what we did:

It was gorgeous. We saw a handful of harbor seals, a dozen or so Dall's porpoises, a huge bald eagle, and several tufted puffins!!! So cool.

We stopped and picked up a few more mussels and some clams for dinner tonight. I cooked 'em the same way I did the mussels the other night, and served with a salad of fresh greens and halved sun gold tomatoes from Red Dog Farm.

Tomorrow we're headed back down to Langley (with the Airstream this time) to visit some friends (friends with chickens!!) before we head back to Lake Pleasant/Seattle for the weekend. I've got a shoot on Sunday, and we'll be heading home on Monday morning.