View allAll Photos Tagged Deception
"Named by Captain George Vancouver, 10 June 1790. Feeling that he had been 'deceived' as to the nature of the inner waterway. Port Gardner (now Saratoga Passage) he wrote on his chart 'Deception Pass.' He honoured Master Joseph Whidbey, who found the passage while commanding a small-boat crew of explorers, by naming the island 'Whidbey.'
Velocity of currents in Deception Pass 5 to 8 knots per hour. Depth varies 4 to 37 fathoms
1 knot = 6082.66 feet
1 fathom = 6 feet"
When we first looked over, the kayaker did an eskimo roll.
Deception Pass is sort of like a box of chocolate you just never know what you going to get, (Unless of course you have a tide chart.) It can be relatively smooth or you can have giant whirlpools. Today wasn't too bad normal cruise speed for the
Lady B is approximately 8 kn.I had the throttle Firewalled and was only getting 1.2 knots.
Photo taken February 21, 2010 at Deception Pass (from the bridge between Whidbey Island and Fidalgo Island). Canon 5D MKII, Canon 300mm f/2.8 @ f/8, 1/80 sec, ISO 200, circular polarizer installed in lens.
This photograph is not
in the public domain and may not be used in electronic,
print, or any other form, without advance permission from Richard
Mitchell.
This is one of the most visited state parks in Washington with about 2 million visitors a year. The bridge connects Whidbey Island (Island County) to the south with Fidalgo Island (Skagit County) to the north. The park was created in 1923.
George Vancouver (yeah, who the nearby city is named for) called it Deception Pass because they were tricked into thinking Whidbey Island was a peninsula. Oops. The small island you see just off the shore here is...Deception Island. Maybe folks thought it was a volcano or something.
There's also some dark history in these waters. In the late 19th century, a fella named Ben Ure and his Native American wife were smuggling Chinese here illegally for cheap labor. They would tie them up in burlap sacks. If they ever feared being caught, they'd just toss the poor souls overboard, where they'd drown and float up to San Juan Island. Dead Man's Bay up there is named for these poor folks. Ben Ure Island just east of the pass is named for this demon of a human being.
We drove home by Chuckanut Drive and stopped by Rosario Beach and Deception Pass to evaluate their potential as cookout sites.
We were looking for something simple and easy to get to, and this set of falls fit the bill. It's an easy drive on Stevens Pass where you can find the pull-off for Deception Falls. The clear, cascading water flows over granite and eventually makes its way to the Tye River.
I'm nervous. Somewhere between the level of anxiety found showing someone your favorite bit of a stand-up routine and the first meeting of the friends of the woman you truly love, you find my fears of bringing Evan into the Puget Sound. If he rejects its beauty, or worse, is apathetic, Id be shattered. If the summer Sound rejects an older me, I'd be torn to confetti bits, with no parade.
He wasn't. I wasn't. We weren't anything but awed by the coolness of the trees and ferns and mountains and by the warmness of old Isis and Uncle Dave.
The bed shed was as cozy as ever, and it was nice to finally join Dave in his nightly ritual of a Few Kona's with pizza. No whales, but no worries at all.