Stranger Together
Stranger Together

Ferry - drive on

Washington State Ferries runs about a half dozen daily trips from Anacortes, WA to Orcas Island.

If you want to drive your car onto the ferry, you must get a reservation. WSF opens up 1/3 of the reservations on April 23, then another 1/3 two weeks out, then the final 1/3 two days out, at 7am Pacific. Mark your calendar. These will fill up.

The Anacortes ferry terminal is roughly a 2hr drive from the Seattle area. The boat ride lasts a little over an hour, depending which route you get. Once you are on-island, it is a 15-20 minute drive to the resort.

We expect this to be the most popular option.

Several of us already have reservations on the 12:35pm boat on Thu 12 Sep. The next batch of reservations will open at 7am Pacific on Thu 29 Aug and the final third will open at 7am Pacific on Tue 10 Sep.

Ferry - walk on

If you don’t want the hassle of a ferry reservation, and/or you want to save $50, you can walk onto the ferry. When you get to Orcas, it is an 8-mile drive to the resort. You can arrange to have a friend pick you up at the terminal, there are limited taxi services on the island. Hitchhiking is common. The resort is 3 miles away from the town of Eastsound.

There are shuttles from Sea-Tac to the Anacortes ferry terminal.

If you drive to Anacortes, there are parking lots near the ferry terminal.

You can bike onto the ferry for the same fare as a walk-on. If you’re the type of person who would consider this, then you would enjoy biking on the island. The roads aren’t particularly wide but traffic is light.

Fly

Kenmore Air offers several options, for $144/person each way. Some flights may stop on other islands before you reach Orcas.

  • Boeing Field to Eastsound — one stop in Friday Harbor — 65min total scheduled time - $144/person, one way. You can get a shuttle from Sea-Tac to Boeing Field. Eastsound airport is 3.7 miles from the West Beach Resort.

  • Lake Union (downtown Seattle) to Deer Harbor - this is a seaplane. how cool is that? Flights depart daily at 8:30am and 1pm. Deer Harbor is 9 miles from the West Beach Resort.