A few weekends ago, Scott and I spent some time at Camp Grande on Camano Island. Our friends, Ben and Maria had invited us up for a fun weekend of crabbing, playing games and campfires at their cabin.
As many of you know, my family has a home on the southeast end of Camano Island. Camp Grande is located on the northwest end of the island facing Whidbey Island and the Saratoga Passage.
What is Camp Grande?
In 1956, two families bought a 9 acre camp that featured a boat house, 24 cabins and 28 boats. They ran the camp until 1970 and then put it up for sale. It remained vacant until 1976 when a group of friends pooled their money to purchase the property. The original group of 40 shareholders, Pilchuck Association, was excited to look at Camp Grande as a possible investment. It was offered for sale at $213,000 and though it seemed like a lot of money forty+ years ago, it has proven to be a great decision. Unfortunately, the camp had fallen prey to vandalism and destruction while vacant. As a result they had a lot of work to do in order to get it back to a functional camp. Check out the full history of Camp Grande on two blogs: Beaches of Camano Island:Camp Grande and SunnyshoreStudio.
Fast forward to today. Ben’s mom and dad were original investors in the camp and that then allowed them to transfer “shares” to their children. So Ben and Maria are partners with two other families in cabin 17. They were in a different cabin originally and have since moved. Think of this as sort of a time share.
The view from their cabin is absolutely gorgeous!
Time to go crabbing!
Ben has a 12′ Smoker Craft fishing boat that he can easily trailer and use for crabbing.
We needed to check on the crab pots before low tide, so we quickly headed over to the Maple Grove boat launch about 5 minutes away. There’s no dock, so boaters simply “beach” their boats after they launch.
Scott and Ben hopped in the boat and navigated over to Camp Grande to check on the pots. After they got their haul, Ben simply tied the boat to the tall dock (where it would hopefully stay afloat during low tide).
So many crabs, clams and mussels!
Since we were having a huge seafood dinner the next day, we were thrilled that we caught our limit of ten crabs! Maria was far braver than me – she had no issue picking them up! If you recall from my other crabbing blog, there are two ways to cook/kill crab. Some people put them in the boiling water alive and then clean them; others stab them in half, clean them and then boil them. That’s how Maria prefers to do it.
After a fabulous lunch (thanks to Maria), we headed back down to the beach to get some clams and mussels for our seafood dinner. The tide was really low, so we had plenty of beach to work with. Note that you do need a license to harvest clams and mussels as well.
Beautiful sunset
Since we are accustomed to being on the east side of the island, we never get to enjoy the sunset, so this trip offered a real treat. After dinner, we built a fire and got ready for some serious star gazing! The view was stunning and magical. We had no idea what the following night would have in store for us!
A day at camp
The next day, Scott and Ben headed out to check the crab pots once again and caught three. Afterwards, we had a fantastic lunch, played some lawn games and soaked up some much needed sun. They also gave me an early birthday present – love it!!
There were so many bald eagles everywhere too! They seemed to visit us about every half hour.
After enjoying some sun, Ben and I headed out for the final trip to pull the crab pots. I tried doing the pulling, but it’s not that easy when you don’t have a pot puller. Plus Scott was making me laugh as he was filming me with the drone. Unfortunately, we only caught one crab this time. (again, we didn’t grab a photo, so this is a screenshot from the video.)
Just minutes after we got out of the boat, Ben spotted a spout in the water! A humpback whale was frolicking in the bay! Who would guess that we would get to see eagles and whales all in the same day!
The property was covered in Hydrangea plants and it was so beautiful to walk around.
A fantastic dinner with great friends and scenery!
With clams purging and Champagne ready, we were ready for an amazing feast!
One thing about Maria, is she is a fantastic cook! I pride myself on being an amazing chef, but she has me beat! We had a fine dining experience in epic surroundings. Maria made grilled lobster and shrimp skewers for our first course.
Maria also made a fantastic clam recipe. I’m not a huge clam eater – I like them very small and swimming in garlic. So when we were clamming and she kept digging for the big ones I was getting grossed out. Turns out, she guts each clam and then chops up the meat. From there she seasons them, and grills them in their shells with tomatoes and bacon. Let me tell you – they were delicious!
The irony of the dinner, was we had so many appetizers that we hardly touched the crab! Of course, I failed to get a photo of that too. We had so much left over crab, that Scott and I enjoyed a crab Louie the following night for dinner!
Sunset, stars and the moon
We finished the night with a campfire and s’mores., just as if we were at camp.
There’s something to be said about summer in the Pacific Northwest! The sunsets are pink and vibrant, the skies are filled with stars at night and the moon shines brightly.
Scott and I can’t thank Ben and Maria enough for such a fun and fabulous weekend. It’s during these trying times, that we realize how important friendships are to us. We know the four of us will have an amazing time in the BVI’s on our bareboat charter next February!
We captured some amazing video footage, including drone footage of our weekend. Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel and see the video below.
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Cheers, Scott and Ally