Deception Pass State Park, day 3 morning

October, 2017

Deception Pass.

Let’s talk about Deception Pass.  And then let’s go see it!  It’s a fascinating waterway, a magnificently beautiful area, and there’s a fantastically impressive bridge system that spans Deception Pass and connects three islands.

First off, Deception Pass is at the very northern end of Whidbey Island (image left).  What a strangely shaped island, yes?  Whidbey is almost three islands.  In fact, there used to be talk of cutting channels at the narrow parts (west of Coupeville and near Greenbank) to allow ships to have shorter routes to cities that are east of Whidbey Island.

In 1792 Captain George Vancouver named the saltwater passage between Whidbey and Fidalgo “Deception Pass” because, when he first explored the area, he completely missed that there was a water passage at the north end of Whidbey.  He wrote that he had been “deceived” into thinking that Whidbey and Fidalgo together constituted one long peninsula that was connected to the mainland.  During the second survey of the area, they did find the passages that created the islands.

A wikipedia article about Deception Pass is here with more information about history, the water currents, recreation, the bridge, and other information.  The Deception Pass Park Foundation website has additional information.

The photo below (from the internet) is a perfect aerial photo of the dual-bridges that span Deception Pass and that connect three islands … Whidbey on the left (to the south), Pass Island in the middle, and Fidalgo Island on the right (to the north).  The photo below belies the treacherous currents and overflows and whirlpools that exist under those bridges when the tidal current is trying to flow in or out through the pass, and the wind is howling in the opposite direction from the current.

In the photo below, the water looks smooth as glass.  It ain’t always so!

 

Taken off the internet, the photos above and below show the waters here at full tilt boogie.  Current can reach 8 knots (9.2 mph), which is bad enough in and of itself.  With undertows from tide, and when the current (lateral movement of water) runs the opposite direction of the wind, standing waves and whirlpools are created that can (and sometimes do) sink even large boats.  Small boats have no business in here under these conditions.

The whirlpools aren’t usually large enough in and of themselves to sink a boat, but if you have engine or steering problems, the current can slam your boat so hard against the solid rock walls along both sides of the Pass that you can lose the boat and your life.

The fellow in the photo above was one of two professional kayakers out for skills training.  Not recommended for the novice!

And yet today, on the day I was here, this was my view of the bridge and the water … absolute peace and calm.  Ordinarily, water conditions are somewhere in between life-threatening and smooth as glass.  This was an exceptionally calm day.

In the photo above, you can see both bridges (completed in 1935), with Whidbey Island to the right, then Pass Island in the middle, and Fidalgo Island on the left.

The larger/longer span of bridge between Pass Island and Whidbey Island.  See the tiny people walking along the bridge?

The shorter, northern bridge between Fidalgo Island and Pass Island.

A distant view of Deception Pass from a public beach inside the State Park.

Here’s a video below of the saltwater lapping along the edge of the beach.  The little wavelets aren’t actually waves … they are the result of a passing boat and its wake.  Such a lovely day!

 

The water was so clear.

I was just walking away from the beach to go somewhere else when these fellows above showed up.  They were friendly fellows and let me take their pictures so I hung around to see what was up.  They had two kayaks and a stand-up paddle board.

Some friends of theirs came along to chat.  Turns out one of the kayakers was quite experienced and was taking the other two fellows out during calm water for their first run through Deception Pass.

 

Two or three sizable groups of kayakers were out on the water off the shore of Fidalgo Island.  There’s another State Park over there on Fidalgo.

Since it was close to slack current through the Pass, boat traffic started through as well.

Kayakers will usually choose the calmest portion of water through the Pass, but power boaters will too, for obvious reasons.  And the power boaters don’t dally.  They want to get through as quickly as they can.  As a result, there will be boat wakes that kayakers need to keep watch for.

 

 

When the current is “slack” (the surface of the water is not moving laterally), boats will zip through as fast as they can.  Current Predictions are published by NOAA for Deception Pass Currents in print form or online, and are available on several other websites as well.

Don’t do what my friends and I did on my first trip through the Pass in my first power boat.  The evening before our transit, while we were safely and quietly docked on the east side of Deception Pass, we spent an inordinate amount of time pouring over the current tables in order to determine the EXACT-TO-THE-NANO-SECOND timing of slack inside the very middle of Deception Pass so that we could run the boat through Deception Pass, from the east side of the pass to the west side of the pass.  And yet when we went through the pass in the boat at that exact time that we predicted, surprisingly we got tossed around by a number of whirlpools and by wild current fluctuations.  We got through just fine, but it was tough steering I’ll tell you.  I was not a happy boater.

After we got to our destination later in the day and docked the boat in the San Juan Islands to the west of Deception Pass and had a chance to breathe, one of us figured out that the current tables did not take into account daylight savings time.  Egads, we had gone through at low tide (high tide would have been calmer) and we had gone through an hour early!

No harm done, but I never made that mistake again.  I’ve been through Deception Pass a number of times since but always at the right time.  🙂

During today’s calm visit, another couple of folks showed up with two stand-up paddle boards.  By now, it was about an hour later and they talked about hurrying to catch the slack in the Pass.  I noticed that both of these people as well as the three fellows who had left an hour earlier all had either wetsuits or drysuits on.  Evidently, even on relatively calm days, it wasn’t unusual to get dumped in the water.

 

 

Above … from my position on the beach, this was my telephoto view of the Pass.  I didn’t have a clear view completely through the Pass so I climbed up on a ledge behind where I had been and then out onto a point of land for a better angle and a better view.

 

The view straight down from where I was standing made me a bit nervous even though I was leaning against a big, sturdy tree.  I spent a bit of time making sure my footing was secure and that I was safe.

And then when I looked up, this was my view … oh my how gorgeous.  Those two paddle-boarders were way out in the distance on their way to the Pass.

 

From my vantage point out on that ledge on the point of land, I could now see completely through the Pass.  Pass Island is to the left; Whidbey is to the right.  Notice the Cascade Mountains in the far distance.  The two closer, dark hills are part of Whidbey Island.

The two paddle-boarders had stopped paddling just before I took the photo above.  They must have realized they arrived too late for slack.  If you look closely, you’ll see a standing wave running between Pass Island and Whidbey.  It’s not huge yet, maybe only 12 inches high, but they build rapidly once the current starts running, and it had obviously started running.  And, the current was now running outbound, against them.  Best to call it good for the day, turn around and head back, and figure you had an enjoyable experience.

They may have been stopped short, but my day certainly wasn’t over.  I’ll have more to share in my next post about my afternoon’s adventures.