I'm on San Juan Island. Sea kayakers heaven. Capital of San Juan County. Hard to hustle work here, though, and you'd have to ferry to whitewater. Bellingham IS nice. Has a very small town feel. Probably a much cheaper place to live than the islands. Jolie > > What are some of the best places in Washington State to live and be within > 1 > > - 2 days of splendid water? > > > > TIA, > > Ashton & Leska in Cascadia > > I'm partial to Bellingham. It's a great little town. I went to college > *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Do you know the best reason to live in the San Juan Islands? You are next the the best sea kayaking in the world! British Columbia! What do you think of that? Kirby Victoria, B.C. -----Original Message----- From: Jolie Francine Wheeling Subject: [Paddlewise] Fw: Best place to live in Washington State for paddling? I'm on San Juan Island. Sea kayakers heaven. Capital of San Juan County. Hard to hustle work here, though, and you'd have to ferry to whitewater. Bellingham IS nice. Has a very small town feel. Probably a much cheaper place to live than the islands. Jolie > > What are some of the best places in Washington State to live and be within > 1 > > - 2 days of splendid water? > > > > TIA, > > Ashton & Leska in Cascadia > > I'm partial to Bellingham. It's a great little town. I went to college *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Kirby hit it right: the west coast of Vancouver Island has Puget Sound beat all hollow for great sea kayaking, and you get to deal with ... surf! Bellingham is about an hour away from the terrific BC Ferry terminal at Tsawwassen (sp?), which in two hours or so plants you on the eastern shore of VI. Another couple hours puts you in Tofino ... or six-seven hours puts you on Johnstone Strait. We do this shuffle from here in 12 hours or so, but have maybe 5 hours of driving just to get to Bellingham, depending on how traffic is in Seattle. The San Juans are overrun, by comparison, with homes, stink-potters, and ... other sea kayakers. Even the BC version of the San Juans (Gulf Island) is less crowded and less settled. A couple of other bonuses: 1. there is a good exchange rate on the US dollar 2. the people are a lot nicer (even Kirby) Sure, Bellingham gets more rain than Seattle, but that's what makes rivers and creeks! -- Dave Kruger Astoria, OR (who lives in Oregon and is not leaving) *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
> Do you know the best reason to live in the San Juan Islands? > > You are next the the best sea kayaking in the world! British Columbia! > > What do you think of that? > > Kirby > Victoria, B.C. > I think it costs me CDN 80 (USD 55) + 1.5 hours by ferry + average 1.5 hours of weekend waiting line to board the ferry to get from Vancouver BC to some island where some Victoria is reportedly located, that's what I think ;-) Alex. *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
On Wed, May 21, 2003 at 10:07:27PM -0700, Kirby Stevens wrote: > Do you know the best reason to live in the San Juan Islands? > > You are next the the best sea kayaking in the world! British Columbia! > > What do you think of that? Gee, and I thought coastal Wales was the best sea kayaking place in the world ;-) I'm glad I read PaddleWise for the Canadian perspective. Just joshing! P.S - To the original poster: Forget the "proximity to salt water == rusted cars" issue. You're so far better off living close to the water in the Pacific Northwest than you would be in the snow belt states, when it comes to car body longevity. Living in the land of "salt cures all ills", and with the change in winter road maintenance policy that dictates salting in advance of snow (whether it comes or not), and in a community that gets a steady stream of vehicles from all over the US and Canada (multiple colleges in the area), the cars from Washington and Oregon look far better than the do our native vehicles. Just stick to worrying about finding a place near the (good) water that you can afford and will allow you to work in your chosen career(s). That's quite enough, I'm sure. *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Dave and Kirby rightly observed: >Kirby hit it right: the west coast of Vancouver Island has Puget Sound beat all hollow for great sea kayaking, and you get to deal with ... surf!< While true, most of us don't necessarily have a choice where we live or proximity to good paddling. As far as destination paddling, BC and Alaska probably can't be beat. But given southern BC's more moderate climate and juxtaposition of open sea with bays, sheltered water and endless inlets, you really can't beat it. Living on Vancouver Island certainly can't be beat as its kind of like the hub. But as you point out, access isn't too bad for those who want to travel a bit. The point being, destination paddling is just that, destinations. As far as day trips and odd overnighters, anywhere near water is fine. I'm sure Shawn makes full use of Montana's lakes, just as I'm sure Vancouverites easily access waters that abound in close proximity. The point being, being near any water for routine paddling can't be beat. In terms of regional disparities, I only feel sorry for those whose climates preclude year-round paddling. Anyway, I'm probably stating the very obvious. Perhaps less obvious is the fact that those with a bent toward the more extreme elements have it beat hands down on Vancouver Island. Unlike the Washington or Oregon coastlines for example, there are innumerable small and large areas to run for shelter, given BC's tortured, craggy coastline. And its all accessible year round. Mt. Everest takes incredible logistics and money to bag. I can be out in world-class paddling conditions within an hour or two, somedays within minutes. I certainly ain't moving off the island. >The San Juans are overrun, by comparison, with homes, stink-potters, and ... other sea kayakers.< Again, for day tripping, none of this matters. For overnighters and longer, yes, it does get a bit more irksome I imagine, but at least in BC waters, there are no real foreshore rights by property owners. >Even the BC version of the San Juans (Gulf Island) is less crowded and less settled.< Way worse than it used to be, but we won't get that thread going again! Much was just set aside as part of a national park system. Thank you Ottawa for once. >A couple of other bonuses: >1. there is a good exchange rate on the US dollar Getting a lot worse. I was making a mint off Sea Kayaker writings - relative to the currency situation. >2. the people are a lot nicer (even Kirby) Kirby's cool; a bit blunt perhaps, but only because he isn't a windbag like some of us and keeps wordage to a minimum. Canadians generally are a nice lot, though lower BC has a tendency toward being a bit snooty at times. And apathetic? Oh yeah baby. We don't care how outrageous our politicians boondoggle their way through zillions of tax payer dollars or erode free speech, as long as we are all orderly and well behaved about it. Have a nice day! One thing that did interest me with the original poster of the thread is how many of us have ever considered moving simply to get closed to better paddling? I know many of us dream, like Melissa wanting to head to somewhere like Alaska one day, where the grass is greener (um, I need to work on that sentence). The reason I show regard to this topic is because I've been trying to warm my wife to the idea of moving northward (west or whatever) to Sooke. The move would allow me to access the west coast more instantly when storms come up, give me cheaper and quicker access to hot surfing spots (gas prices are outrageous on the island), and have the added benefit of allowing us to purchase for the same monetary commitment, more land, a bigger house, and my own on-property workshop for custom wooden kayak building. The down side is greater remoteness to Victoria, power outages, no family GP's or regional hospital and an overabundance of pot-heads taking hits out on their verandas all day. What about that, anyone thinking similar thoughts? I mean really contemplating a move for paddling sakes? Just wondering. Regardless, bloom where you are planted, err, I mean where you plant your paddle in the water. Doug Lloyd (who would like to move to Astoria too; maybe they have contract rates for Columbia River bar kayak rescues). ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ "Whatever can be said at all can be said clearly and whatever cannot be said clearly should not be said at all." Ludwig Wittgenstein ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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