The Best Beach on the Island is . . .

. . . Double Bluff! How can you beat this? Soft & abundant sandy beach, great hiking, off leash dog park, shallow water, tide pools, climbing bluff. Alright so maybe you have a better beach, if so, let me know. But this is my all-time favorite beach on Whidbey Island. For several reasons it is my favorite: close proximity to where I live, sugary-soft sand, lots of interesting dried out logs, and when the tide is out, long long expanses of sandy beach for exploring.

For parents and small kids the beach is great because the water doesn't get very deep, it just stays about the same depth for who-knows-how-far. I have tried walking for quite a long while though the water and still not gotten above my head, just tummy or chest level. Plus, the sand makes great sand castles and is easy to dig into. Older kids and adults will appreciate skim boarding, Frisbee, or hiking.

For people who love a good walk: try following the beach until you reach "the second point" where the land levels out with the beach. It is about a 45 minute walk from the double bluff parking area. As you walk you will turn the corner around the first point, where the bluff is quite high. You can see this first point from the parking area. To get to where I am talking about you have to keep walking past this point to the next one you can see, the second point. It is beautiful and well worth the walk

Have dogs? The beach is also an off leash park for dogs, provided you clean up after you dog and wait until you reach the flag (about 700 feet from the parking lot) to let them off leash. My kids and I love "dog watching."

Sunshine, what's that again? Oh yeah! And how to make a Beach-Inspired Fairy Garden

Double Bluff beach on a warm day in April. Hello Sunshine, Welcome Back! I took these pics last week and there were actually a few days of sunshine and warm enough temperatures for me to consider going to the beach.

. . . and back again

The Beach Inspired Fairy Garden:

Making a fairy garden in a bucket: Collect anything small and interesting from the beach and put it all together in sand and voila, fairy garden.

Baby has serious shovel work to do!

It's still too cold for swimming for most people. And I needed a jacket for the wind.

okay, so there is something seriously strange about seeing a kid swimming for an hour in April in the ocean. A hour really. Brrrrr!

Sand! Rediscovering the joys of the beach.

Rhodie Hill Farm

The Fruit Orchard

Back to the Beach at South Whidbey State Park: stairs are repaired and the park is beautiful as ever! Kids will love the magical walk to the water

As if we needed another lovely beach here on Whidbey! Wait, what am I saying? This beach is special for several reasons. Among them, when I was just a kid my older sister and my younger brother, some friends, and I camped at the park for 5 days by ourselves (what were my parents thinking?!? By the way, thanks mom & dad, it was great!) We had so much fun at the beach playing on the trees that hung from the bluff on to the beach and making campfires at night. Ahhhh. . . . So after 2 years without stairs down to the beach due to a big winter storm, the parks department people finally finished them! You can now enjoy another lovely beach on Whidbey.

The walk to the beach is complete with ancient towering evergreens some blackened by the fire that ripped through the woods many years ago, moss and fern covered trees hanging over the hillside, an abundance of fairy homes (just look at the many holes in the old trees and your child will likely agree), and peek-a-boo views of the ocean. Once you get to the beach you will find smooth rounded stones and plenty of sand. There is a child-size river flowing through the sand from a mini waterfall on the bluff (short walk to the right). This time of the year a roaring ocean might greet you with waves crashing on shore. Pretty exciting. And the parking is by donation, meaning no tickets and no worries if you left your wallet at home. Kids will love the magical walk to the beach: my almost 4-year-old walked the entire way down and back up. ~~~~~~Enjoy~~~~~~~