Whidbey Island is beautiful.  It rests on an ever-changing sea, cupped in a giant hand of land whose icy fingers--the Cascade mountains on the east and the Olympics on the west--reached the sky. It lies on the North western tip of the state of Washington where the waves of the mighty Pacific Ocean roll through the strait of Juan de Fuca to gentle down into the placid waters of Puget sound.  Whidbey is completely surrounded by salt water. It has a length of approximately 55 miles and a width which varies from 1 mile to about 12.  It has 200 miles of shore line in an area of 230 square miles or approx. 146,000 acres.  Nature has utilized two inlets--Penn's Cove on the north and Holmes Harbor on the south--to divide the island into three distinct areas; north, central, and south.  South Whidbey is almost a separate island because of the deep indenture of Holmes Harbor which leaves less than one mile between Saratoga Passage on the east and Admiralty Inlet on the west.  South Whidbey gentle hills are forest covered and its green valleys are dotted with lakes and flowers. Once you have visited Whidbey Island, you will forever more be tantalized by that paradise of Puget Sound which is South Whidbey. 
By Walter Johnson.