Oak Harbor/Whidbey information

Hi everyone. I was hoping that maybe some on MP could offer information about living in the Whidbey Island/Oak Harbor part of Washington. Not necessarily strictly from a climbing perspective (although that information is certainly helpful) but also just general pros/cons of life there, whether getting to other parts of the state is difficult, should I expect to only make friends with retirees or can I hope to meet people roughly my own age (38), is it overpriced coffee or 25 cent bottomless cups that I could stand a spoon upright in (or somewhere in between), etc etc. Honestly, any insight is welcome and appreciated!

Many military folk there. Naval Air Station Whidbey Island.  

Annacortes is probably the best place to live in western Washington if you wanna get a lot of volume outdoor climbing. You are also closer to squamish, houses are more reasonable than seattle, mt. Erie drys super fast, and it’s really pretty nice weather and pretty in general. Downside is that you are far from eastern Washington, it’s a pain to ski anywhere other than baker, people will be retired or military. 

I really appreciate the responses. Work would be in Coupeville, so Anacortes doesn’t appear to be unreasonable. Having some space and not taking on a crushing mortgage seem very appealing and part of the reason I’m hesitant to live and work in Seattle. Skiing Mt Baker (doesn’t seem so bad), having some bouldering options nearby, and getting some kitesurfing sessions in are all pluses. Thanks for the heads up about Oak Harbor and the potential noise.

pros - lots of mountain biking on whidbey and fidalgo/anacortes, climbing is OK if you're not picky (mt erie is alright), pretty easy access to the olympics via the ferry. it's gorgeous down there, and often in the rain shadow of the olympics.

cons - jet noise (only if you hate FREEDOM!), and it is pretty far from mt baker unless you're really psyched on skiing.

I suppose it depends on what you're looking for. I live here. I spend most of my time trying to climb or do almost anything off island. The commute to doing anything off island becomes a pain after a while, but you can learn to enjoy what's here if you just find things to do. 

The island is beautiful but the cost of living doesn't match the actual living here. I don't know how social you may be. Most of my like-minded friends live on the mainland so if I'm trying to be social it's a little bit of a drive. There's a ferry to the beautiful Olympic Peninsula right in Coupeville. 45 minutes south of Coupeville, there's a ferry to Mukilteo that puts you closer to Seattle. Erie is about 30-40 minutes north of Coupeville. Anacortes is maybe 10 extra minutes. 

The island can work, but it's not ideal for someone like me (30, single, climber unless you're retired or military or have family close. And even the military gets bored as hell here and wishes they were closer to mainland haha.

Make the best of it. Hella trails and roads to bike! Good luck!

Don't hold it against me but I am a retiree.  So I can't address the mid 30 social scene too well.  But if you are a climber and outdoors-man then I can tell you a few things.  

Mr. Erie is not an epic once in a life time must go climbing here spot. It is a good home crag with lots of diversity in styles of climbing. Approaches are usually less than 20 minutes and some only a minute or so.  Index and Squamish are not a bad drive for more diversity.  Exit 38 and Frenchmans Coulee are a bit of a drive, but a good change of pace. 

The bridge going across Deception Pass has heavy traffic during rush hour and tourist season. 

We travel and volunteer at State Parks, we spent 3 months hosting the campground at Deception Pass State Park.  Our camper was parked right under the downwind leg for the navy base, we had jets over head most days.  It didn't bother us too much.  They did most of their flying during business hours and only a few of the jets where using full military power, so yes, there is jet noise, but it's not horrendous. 

Coupeville, Oak Harbor, Anacortes - Again limited knowledge on the social scene.   My impression of Coupeville was that it is a sleepy little fishing town. But I admit to only shell fishing there and riding my bike through it.  Oak Harbor has a couple of pubs, don't know about late night, but the beer is good and food is good.  Decent grocery store.  Anacortes has more. More restaurants, some tourist stuff, and they have an excellent developed trail system.  

While Burlington and Mt. Vernon are a bit of a drive they are more cityish, probably more social life, so we avoid them. 

Black Rock Seafood Market is fire when it comes to fresh seafood. 

My sister and her husband just moved from there. They only made friends because of their military affiliation. It's difficult outside of that. access to the to the mountains is pretty difficult because you're driving at least an hour 20 min just to get to i-5. And it's much worse in the summer when deception pass is pretty packed and getting to and from home sucks. they ended up spending more weekends home than I think they wanted to because of the drive. I could see Anacortes being much easier though...in my opinion. 

Even index is a 2-hour drive from oak harbor without traffic. As for the ferry, don't even try it during the week sometimes the wait is 2 hours or more. 

Yes it's beautiful and scenic but getting out of oak harbor is just really difficult because deception pass is always crawling with Seattle tourist to come to walk across the bridge. Sometimes I go to visit her on the weekend and in the evening the traffic and range anywhere from two to four hours just to get there. so that really limits anyone visiting you or any social life outside of the island. 

I will say it also tended to be very dreary there although it's really sunny in the summer it seemed to be more rainy and cloudy in the offseason then we had in Seattle

i have spent a bit of time on whidbey island.  it is a cool place to check out on a drizzly weekend, but i definitely would not want to live there.  there MIGHT be a couple boulders, but no real climbing.  social scene is super dead.  taking the ferry to the mainland and then driving for climbing would get really old.

very pretty scenery though!

A lot of great information and really much appreciated! Dallas, definitely wouldn’t hold being a retiree against you and if I get up that way I’ll be sure to check out that seafood market.

I’m still staying down near Seattle while I continue the job hunt but if I do find myself having to move up that way it seems Anacortes or Mount Vernon area would be a better choice. I’ve been exploring the Skykomish Valley since moving to Washington and I’ve been really enjoying the bouldering (I pretty much only boulder so maybe I should be the one asking to be excused haha) in that area. So having to drive quite a distance to access it would be unfortunate. 

Angella M wrote:

My sister and her husband just moved from there. They only made friends because of their military affiliation. It's difficult outside of that. access to the to the mountains is pretty difficult because you're driving at least an hour 20 min just to get to i-5. And it's much worse in the summer when deception pass is pretty packed and getting to and from home sucks. they ended up spending more weekends home than I think they wanted to because of the drive. I could see Anacortes being much easier though...in my opinion. 

Even index is a 2-hour drive from oak harbor without traffic. As for the ferry, don't even try it during the week sometimes the wait is 2 hours or more. 

Yes it's beautiful and scenic but getting out of oak harbor is just really difficult because deception pass is always crawling with Seattle tourist to come to walk across the bridge. Sometimes I go to visit her on the weekend and in the evening the traffic and range anywhere from two to four hours just to get there. so that really limits anyone visiting you or any social life outside of the island. 

I will say it also tended to be very dreary there although it's really sunny in the summer it seemed to be more rainy and cloudy in the offseason then we had in Seattle

There’s a little exaggeration.. the ferry wait is only sometimes that long. Depends on which ferry you’re trying to take and to where. If you plan accordingly you can definitely do better than a 2 hour wait..

I’ve also made many non-military friends, but that’s because I choose not to stay on the island. Even when I really really don’t feel like driving to have some fun. But I am limited to mostly weekends. 

Salém J wrote:

There’s a little exaggeration.. the ferry wait is only sometimes that long. Depends on which ferry you’re trying to take and to where. If you plan accordingly you can definitely do better than a 2 hour wait..

I’ve also made many non-military friends, but that’s because I choose not to stay on the island. Even when I really really don’t feel like driving to have some fun. But I am limited to mostly weekends. 

I agree with this except for during COVID. The ferries are so short staffed that some are only running at 50% capacity. The issue might persist after COVID since they lost funding, the ferry schools are closed, and they didn't have enough ferries to begin with.

Bicycling and riding my motorcycle makes ferry riding easier.  

Princess Puppy Lovr wrote:

I agree with this except for during COVID. The ferries are so short staffed that some are only running at 50% capacity. The issue might persist after COVID since they lost funding, the ferry schools are closed, and they didn't have enough ferries to begin with.

True. Some of the ferry times have been cancelled also. Good input.

Dallas R wrote:

Bicycling and riding my motorcycle makes ferry riding easier.  

That's the way to go!

I have fam in Coupeville. Super quiet and nice there. You can’t beat the scenery, and the weather in the summer there is spectacular. Those are pretty good reasons to be there. Get a sailboat, you will thank yourself for that! 

Salém J wrote:

There’s a little exaggeration.. the ferry wait is only sometimes that long. Depends on which ferry you’re trying to take and to where. If you plan accordingly you can definitely do better than a 2 hour wait..

I’ve also made many non-military friends, but that’s because I choose not to stay on the island. Even when I really really don’t feel like driving to have some fun. But I am limited to mostly weekends. 

Ok that's a joke.  Try hitting the ferry Friday or any day at 4. It's packed with people from Boeing getting off of work from 2-6 and almost a 2 hour wait. If anyone wants to know the real time wait you can log onto the webpage and check it will tell you. And the ferry most ppl take is from Everett so it's always packed. I've encountered this at least 6 times as my family members that live there. 

Boeing isn't on the island.. It's on mainland side. From what I'm reading, he was gauging getting off the island. I currently live here and have for a long while. I also spend all my time off the island.. so I leave both ways during the week and on weekends. 

Port Townsend ferry is definitely a wait if you didn't make a reservation. Especially now, due to covid, they cut some of the ferry times out and are running on short staff. The ferry to Mukilteo (Everett) is still running pretty smoothly.

I stand by "if you don't work here, you might be a little too bored to live here". You will lack climbing if that's what you're after, for sure. It's definitely a hassle.