Whidbey Island Sunset

Beautiful Whidbey Island Sunsets

Whidbey Island sunsets are beautiful. We are so lucky to have been there at the perfect time of year and camped at the perfect campsite. This was a surprise, not that I didn’t know if Whidbey Island had a sunset every day, but rather that I didn’t know where our campsite would be and that our campsite would have such a great view of these beautiful Whidbey Island sunsets. Sunsets that are completely obscured by clouds are just not the same.

Our campsite on Whidbey Island is on a cliff looking west at the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
Our campsite on Whidbey Island is on a cliff looking west at the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The island in the distance is Lopez Island, and to the south of that, behind the smaller tree (if you could see that far) is Victoria, Canada.

Six months ago (I think) I made this reservation to stay at the Cliffside RV park. At this military-only campground, they were not accepting any reservations due to COVID during 2020-2021. We could have stayed there last year, but rather, we headed to the east. It was a wonderful trip. We did a good job covering several southeastern states, ending up as far as you can drive in Key West, Florida.

Florida

I mention Florida because that is where we were on January 1st. We were as far south in Florida as you can take an RV that doesn’t float. We started this year’s journey at Key West, where I hatched the plan of crossing the country from corner to corner. Some people would conclude now that we are on an island on the far side of Washington that we finished our goal. Close, but we are going further north and much further west.

Every night we stayed at Whidbey Island we enjoyed the sunsets. Picture of Whidbey Island Sunsets
Every night we enjoyed beautiful Whidbey Island sunsets. This was the first night, and this sunset was without clouds.

We spent four weeks at Key West, three weeks at Boise, and now three weeks at Whidbey Island. After our stop at Whidbey, we are still headed west. The sunsets at Key West were incredible. Here is a link to our post. Key West Sunsets

Another sunset from our campsite. Picture of Whidbey Island Sunsets
This was a nice one of the Whidbey Island sunsets. The trees and clouds add to the picture. Yes, this is another sunset from our campsite.

As a preview of this post, since I have some great pictures of Whidbey Island Sunsets, I won’t include pictures of Key West sunsets here. Most of the time, at least in my blog, good pictures dictate how many words and descriptions I include. Not so on this post. I have more pictures than words.

On this night we took a walk and got a different view of the sunset. Picture of Whidbey Island Sunsets
Tonight, we took a walk and got a different view of the Whidbey Island sunset.

I wonder if you will agree that the pictures of Whidbey Island sunsets are better than the pictures of Key West Sunsets. Please comment below I am very interested if you agree (or not). Since we are talking about taste, there isn’t a right or wrong answer, it is just expressing a preference.

This time we went for a very short walk to get a different angle on the sunset. We are just to the left of that same big tree.
This time we went for a short walk to get a different angle on the sunset. We are just to the left of that same big tree. In this case, our little walk was about 50 feet.

Corner to Corner

It is a long way, starting in Key West to cross the country and so far (we are still heading west) it has taken seven months. We had a delay (to enjoy the mountains) in northern Idaho. As I explained before, when complaining about the weather, we went too far north too soon and spent too much time crossing the Washington desert. Here is a link to the story of when we crossed the desert in the middle of the summer. In a Heat Dome

This sunset had a nice evening afterglow. Picture of Whidbey Island Sunsets
This sunset had a pleasant evening afterglow. The wind created some waves on the Strait and we could hear them crashing against the beach that night.

A better route that would avoid these mistakes of going north too soon and then crossing the Washington desert in the middle of summer wouldn’t look so much like a corner-to-corner crossing on a map. When we finally reach the point furthest west I will include a picture of the map, For now, I hope you like the pictures of the sunsets.

At Whidbey

Our stay in Whidbey was beautiful. Whidbey Island is south of Anacortes Island and is connected to it. Oak Harbor on Whidbey Island is about half the size of Anacortes. Both cities are tranquil, especially on Sunday afternoon when we visited Anacortes.

High winds stripped out the clouds into wispy feather-like decorations. Picture of Whidbey Island Sunsets
High winds over Victoria, Canada, stripped out the clouds into wispy feather-like decorations.

Flight Operations

The Naval Air Station on Whidbey Island is the reason the RV park is there. Even though the sunsets were wonderful, there was the frequent noise of the jets at Whidbey. Usually, Whidbey has the jets practice landings at an outlying field about twenty miles to the south. However, when we were there, the outlying field was closed for repairs and the jets frequently practiced at Whidbey.

These landings are all made precisely as if they were landing on an aircraft carrier. Instead of stopping after each touchdown, they take off again and do it again. As noisy as it is, it is critical training. For us, because the outlying field was closed, the noise occasionally lasted until after bedtime. The RV park is located right below the flight path, so often, it was very noisy.

There wasn't a brilliant glowing orange color on this night but the sunset was still great. Picture of Whidbey Island Sunsets.
There wasn’t a brilliant glowing orange color this night, but the sunset was still great.

In case you think I am complaining, I’m not, nor am I sensitive to noise. When onboard the ship, my bed was located directly below the flight deck. One time, I noticed that the noise wasn’t quite right, so I bolted out of bed and ran to the flight deck to find out what was wrong. Once there, I found that the landing was caused by an engine failure.

The water was nearly still this evening with calm winds during the show. Picture of Whidbey Island Sunsets.
The water was nearly still this evening, and the winds were calm during the show.

An interesting side effect of the jets flying overhead is that when they were flying, we would lose cell service. It was a side effect of the planes overhead. I don’t know which radar/radio was jamming the cell service but I started being able to predict the cell service loss when I heard the planes.

The best view of the sunset was from our campsite with the trees in the picture. Usually, the clouds made the show more dramatic.
The best view of the sunset was from our campsite with the trees in the picture. Usually, the clouds made the show very dramatic.

Other great sunsets

Since I made this post all about Whidbey Island sunsets I figured I might as well review a few other great sunset pictures and locations that we have had during our travels. Seeing these pictures reminds me of how often we have been treated to fantastic sunsets. In the list below, you will see that we don’t include very many sunrises; the one exception is the one in Death Valley. Usually, sunrise doesn’t fit into my sleep schedule. Then there is the issue of not going outside before I have coffee.

When you click through these links make sure to scroll down for more pictures, not all the sunsets are at the top of the post.

Great sunset pictures are scattered in these posts.

Life is good; thanks for letting us share.

Please subscribe and join us on our journey.

We will add you to our email list and send you updates once a week. Here is a link. Subscribe

As you know, our blog income is zero, which allows us to be independent and tell the truth. We do not get income or commissions. No, we don’t make paid endorsements. We don’t make recommendations; instead, we will tell you what we like (or dislike). The links are only provided as a quick reference to help our readers.

Links

Cliffside RV Park

About Comments

We love seeing your comments, but they are not automatic. I get about twenty spam comments every day, and thus, I have to turn off automatic comments. I read and then publish every comment personally to protect the blog and keep it on the subject and real. So this means that you will not see your comment right after you hit submit. Sorry for the delay in publishing your comments. Please know that we would love to hear from you.

13 thoughts on “Beautiful Whidbey Island Sunsets”

  1. I remember it well Sharon and I both grew up in Washington. As a child we camped at the state park every year for over a decade.
    After A school we were assigned to the Naval Air Station our first house was on a bluff overlooking Dugualla Bay we could watch the AC on approach generally at eye level or a little below.
    Our daughter Trebeca was born at the Naval Hospital there. It was a really good tour.

  2. Death Valley was my favorite. The 2 months we were in Newport Oregon there was always a marine layer so the sunsets were not spectacular.

  3. FCLP = “The sound of Freedom!”

    (for all of you that didn’t get to fly tactical jets off of Aircraft Carriers at sea…AT NIGHT, the acronym stands for Field Carrier Landing Practice) – and yes it is NOISY!

  4. You got there at a good time great pics. It was so smoky here yesterday in Garibaldi we couldn’t see the sun. Cleared off today. Ocean is calming down so it looks like I will get some fishing in.

  5. Love love Cliffside. Ken (host) has flower gardens any master gardener would be jealous of!! Sunsets are amazing.

    We are just finishing a 2-week stay after 3 mos in Alaska. Great place to catch our breath before the long journey back to Fl.

    Thanks for the post!

  6. Clouds make the picture!

    Yes, I’d have to agree that Whidbey has more amazing sunsets than Key West because of the variety of clouds.

    Lovely photography!
    Brook

  7. Thanks. Love all of the descriptive ways you relate your travels. I feel like I am traveling right along with the two of you.

  8. Pingback: Snippet: Who can stay at military campgrounds? - FoxRVTravel

  9. Pingback: No beautiful sunsets in Fairbanks - FoxRVTravel

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *