Washington San Juan Island advice

[luvmydogs]

So we are wanting to go rv'ing around the San Juan islands. My feeling is we can maybe stay NOT on the islands and save money on ferry fees for the RV (travel trailer)and just do day trips to the islands. That's me, always trying to save a few bucks if I can. So having said that, where can we go that is close to the ferries and maybe get a campground on the water? I was looking at Whidbey Island, like Oak Harbor and Coupeville or anyplace anyone can recommend. Any thoughts or ideas? I've only been out in that area once with an RV a long time ago.

[vermilye]

donn0128 wrote:
There is a county park about a half mile from the ferry terminal st Anacortes. Decent but pretty shady if I remember correctly. We walked on and drove on for a week of visiting the islands. If you have the time and your passports be sure to also go to Vancouver Island and visit both Victoria and Buchard gardens. Both worth a day.

I believe you are describing Washington Park, an Anacortes City Park. I stayed there in 2011 - a shady, pull through site (36) with water & electric. The photo in my signature is the site.

[Bigdog]

This year,all vehicles have to have reservations before riding the ferry. I don't think that you need one for bikes,scooters or motorcycles.
However, a trip to the islands is an awesome adventure.

[jamesu]

Washington State ferries have become expensive. An RV or a trailer are even more expensive. Ferry lines in the summer are long. We enjoy just walking on so we don't have to deal with the fery lines and it saves money. The problem is you are limited to how far you can walk once you leave a ferry on one of the islands and each island is beautiful and walk-ons can't see the islands by car. One option: we walked-on in Anacortes, got off at Friday Harbor (San Juan Island), walked up the hill through downtown to the car rental and rented one for the day for like $20 plus gas. When we were done we returned the car, the guy behind the counter drove us back down to the ferry landing, and we walked onto the next ferry (unlike all of those in cars who had to sit through 1 or more ferry landings before getting on the boat).

If you do the above, 3 state parks to stay at are Deception SP, Ft. Ebey SP, and Ft. Casey SP, all on Whidbey Island south of Anacortes. Probably need to book sites well in advance for summer months. Good luck. The San Juans are beautiful, especially if you get good weather in the summer months.

[louiskathy]

It's been awhile since we were on the ferry but If I remember correctly, we only had to pay for the furtherest point and then coming back was free. We could get off the ferry and back on again free as long as we were coming back.

Maybe you need to look into that a little more.

When we went, we left our 37ft class A behind and just tossed a tent/sleeping bags in the jeep for our San Juan trip. Maybe that's an option for you.

I don't remember the county cg we stayed at... I know it was the island the furthest out on the ferry run... Our 37 ft would not have made it into the cg. The pitch of the driveway from the road was way too steep. Finding a site big enough for a class A would have been difficult in more than a few that we stayed at.

[donn0128]

There is a county park about a half mile from the ferry terminal st Anacortes. Decent but pretty shady if I remember correctly. We walked on and drove on for a week of visiting the islands. If you have the time and your passports be sure to also go to Vancouver Island and visit both Victoria and Buchard gardens. Both worth a day.