Island living near Seattle (Tacoma, Bellevue: home, best school, pros and cons)

[schleppenheimer]

We are considering a move to the Seattle area, and have done lots of research for over a year -- have even had a trip out there to look for housing.

Our question is -- what are the pros and cons of living on one of the islands? Obvious cons would be traffic, and ferry rides to get to the city. But for those of you who have done this, you may be able to tell us whether this is necessarily a con or not.

Also, we have a child who will be in high school in a year or so -- wondering if island living is cool, or not, for that age group.

[daneurysm]

Which "Islands" are you referring to? San Juans? I couldn't imagine living up there full-time while working in Seattle Full time. There is Anderson Island near Tacoma. It's pretty, but not much of an option unless you work in Tacoma. There is Bainbridge island which is very nice and only a 30 minute ferry ride to Downtown. There is Mercer Island which is technically an island on lake washington, but most people just consider it part of the "Eastside". It gets a bad rap from people in Seattle-proper for being a yuppie-hive, but it's very nice there. Very peaceful, pretty, etc. Just too damn rich for my blood. It's about 10 minutes to downtown, 20 if traffic is bad. Oh, almost forgot, vashon island. Another 20 minute commute or so (by ferry) to downtown. Another nice one, but housing can be slim pickins.

[Ira500]

If you work in downtown Seattle, and live on either Vashon or Bainbridge island close to the ferry dock, then it's not much of a negative, except for severe weather delays. If you can be a foot passenger and not have to bring a vehicle, it'll be faster and cheaper and less stressful...I know that Metro has buses that meet the Vashon ferry on the island and go down the length of Vashon Highway, and I assume that Kitsap transit does the same thing on Bainbridge, but I'm not sure about that...
Mercer Island is easiest to escape from, so that would be good from a teens' point of view...Mercer island is often considered to be the best school district in the state, but Bainbridge Island's and Vashon Island's are also considered good.
I'm particularly fond of Vashon. It's less expensive than Bainbridge, more funky, more artsy, and has a great bakery.
But if money is no object, Mercer Island has a lot going for it.

[allforcats]

Then there's Whidbey Island, my great love... where the livin' can be rural or close to rural; great for adults, maybe not so much fun for teenagers. And Fidalgo Island, pretty much more of same. Exquisitely beautiful, both of them and generally places where community life is friendly. Rural and marine dreams come true...

Living on both islands would require seriously long commutes to downtown Seattle and back again (at least 1-1/2 hours one way from the southern end of Whidbey and longer from anywhere else), with planned things to do on the ferry or the drive to Mt. Vernon, and on the Community Transit bus. The school districts are okay but neither is considered among the top five in Washington.

[5chevin5]

I had a friend that lived on Bainbridge for a few years as a teen, his stories of teen angst and party legend were quite entertaining to hear. Teens will be teens, and if there is no direct stimulus.....they will create it anywhere.

As far as the ferries, well for the most part I enjoyed working on Bainbridge, except for the mornings when I would see the exact boat I was to be on....leaving. Perhaps it would be easier coming from Bainbridge to Seattle then the reverse, but still your schedule will be at the mercy of many other factors outside of your control.

The best advise on CD for Seattle is..."live as close to work as possible" I hear this allot and would have to agree that nobody wants to spend excess time coming and going when they could be home with their families or pets!

Good Luck
5

[schleppenheimer]

We have done lots of research about Bainbridge Island, and were under the impression that it is both pricey and the school district is high octane, i.e. lots of pressure, lots of competition. We are coming from a school district like that, which was great for our first two children, but our last child has Asperger's syndrome, and the pressure would be just too much.

We are interested in Whidbey Island, as it seems to be more affordable. The school districts are not as intense (according to statistics that can be found on the internet) as Bainbridge or north of Seattle school districts, which could be good for us.

Thanks for the info so far! It's that 1 1/2 hour commute one way that would be a killer, but hubby has been doing that to some degree for years. If one did an alternative commute time, i.e. very early in the morning, then returning home in the early hours of the afternoon -- could the commute be shortened?

[Ira500]

From Seattle to Mukilteo would be about a 45 minute drive, then a ferry to Clinton, on Whidbey Island, then a drive to wherever on Whidbey you lived, so there's not a lot to shorten the commute, but I think Vashon would have a less intense school district than Bainbridge as well.

[Whidbey]

I live in Coupeville and have kids in the school. We're definitely small-town here, kids walk to and from all the schools. We regularly have kids place at National History Day finals and have alternative programs available too. I'm not familiar with Asperger's but do know we have programs for kids with special needs. They usually have aides who work with the individual child in the classroom.

Not sure what your kids like to do. If they enjoy horses, lots of activities for them. Active sports stuff here too. There's a skateboard park in Oak Harbor and one in Langley too. Lots of outdoor activities--hiking, trail running, kayaking, biking.

Some kids hang out at the library, which has a mini-teen section with WIFI and Alien computers. We have a drive-in north of town, which is popular, but maybe for the wrong reasons. They have go-karts & video games there too.

But, we're small-town. No mall here. Lots of families have moved here just because of that.

Friends have spouses who commute to Redmond/Bellevue. It's 35 minutes to the ferry, a 15 minute crossing to Mukilteo (the mainland). He'd have a long commute, but the island part is no traffic, and he can grab a bite to eat, or take a nap on the ferry ride, instead of the mayhem of I-5 traffic.