Pass on your own boat, you can visit one of the Northwest’s most spectacular natural sights on a one-hour boat tour with Deception Pass Tours. Deception Pass’s stunning panorama features a dark green, swiftly flowing tidal river bisecting a deep, wide chasm, lined with craggy cliffs, arcing coves and rocky beaches. With walls of tall firs and cedars, Deception Pass presents a spectacular sight. Time your visit to Oak Harbor


with one of their festivals if you can. April’s event is the Holland happening Parade; July has an Old Fashioned Fourth of July Parade and Fireworks, plus Whidbey Island Race Week; and December features the OHYC Christmas Boat Parade.


Coupeville As you coast towards the large,


A favorite is the Hickory Bacon & Dijon Cream Penn Cove Mussels at the Bay City Bistro in Oak Harbor.


Fraser’s impressive menu include Dungeness Crab Cakes, Kobe Style Beef Short Ribs, Sablefish (apple wood smoked and poached black cod in a saffron cream broth, Dungeness crab and sweet pea risotto). From May through September you


can stock the boat with locally grown produce and fruit, fresh seafood, and homemade pies from Oak Harbor Farmer’s Market. Locally made crafts and colorful flowers and plants are also sold here. The Island County Museum and


Wind and Tide Bookshop will also keep you entertained. And, if you aren’t planning on going through Deception


red painted building on Coupeville’s pier, a line of old wooden storefront buildings juts out to the water’s edge – a scene that has greeted sailors for well over a century. Even the wharf has history; it’s the oldest in the Puget Sound, built in 1905. Two floats provide 400 feet of overnight guest moorage at the Coupeville wharf, with plans for additional space in the next year or two. Although there is no power or water, there is a fuel pump and garbage disposal available. Additional moorage is available at 4 buoys northwest of the fuel dock. Right on the wharf, in a red barn


like building, is Kim’s Café on the wharf offering an eclectic array of Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai and western food – try the intriguing Vietnamese Sub with Vietnamese ham, pate, pickled carrots, green onions and other little surprises. You’ll think you’ve arrived in a


small, New England coastal town as soon as you step off your boat and walk along Coupeville’s antique Front Street. With a population of only 1700,


the town is small enough to walk around without having to dodge cars and busses. An interesting fact about Coupeville: it’s actually located on the 17,500-acre Ebey’s Landing National Historical Reserve, established in 1978 “to preserve this rural community with its unbroken historic record from its 19th


century settlement to the present”.


In fact, Coupeville dates from 1852, making it Washington’s second oldest town. The town is also unofficially known as the “City of the Sea Captains”, from the plethora of commercial sailors and merchants from New England who have settled here over the decades. A great place to start exploring


Coupeville is the Island County Historical Society Museum, just a few paces past the entrance to the dock. Crammed with artifacts from its bygone era of farming, logging and commercial shipping, you’ll find old farming implements, paintings depicting the town’s history, shelves loaded with kitchen pots and pans, spinning wheels, sewing machines, glass jars, prehistoric rocks and tools, lumberjack axes and saws, historical photos, models of old sailing ships, and much more. The 1905 horseless carriage is worthy of display in the Smithsonian. Outside the museum, in an original log blockhouse built to protect the settlers against Indian attacks, is a display of hollowed out log canoes. Pick up the booklet entitled “Self-


Guided Walking Tour of Historic Coupeville” from the museum and explore Coupeville’s beautifully


Oak Harbor Yacht Club invites all visitors to the Club from Wednesdays to Sunday in the summertime (4 pm-10 pm). Guests are welcome to their BBQ night on Wednesday evenings, and Burger night on Fridays.


48° NORTH, JULY 2010 PAGE 46


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