Resorts of South Whidbey Island

(This is the color version of the book.)

At one time South Whidbey had more than 35 family-run fishing resorts. People came for the beauty of Whidbey Island. Salmon were plentiful. It was an escape from the humdrum of everyday life.

Looking back on all of the changes we see a time capsule. From the everyday use of the automobile, the Depression, and war years when families lived on limited incomes to the more affluent years of the 1960’s. Today all of the fishing resorts are gone. After several generations, the descendants of those early resort goers still come to the island.

The beauty and serenity of Whidbey remains today, though gone are the primitive cabins where you brought your own sleeping bag and a block of ice for an ice box. No more is the boathouse with the clacking rail car to launch and retrieve rental boats. With salmon fishing greatly reduced, it is left to the old timers to tell stories of the big fish of years ago.