Hi everyone! I'm new here. First post ever. :D

I'm currently in Hawaii (we've loved our 3 years here!) and now DH, DS, and I are heading to Whidbey Island for shore duty. DH (he's the one in the Navy) and I have been married for 3 years and have a 1 yr old boy.

We're very familiar with Washington because we were both born and raised in Bremerton. We tried so hard to get Bangor or Kitsap. But Whidbey is nice.
Even though we know WA, we still have lots of questions. So if any of you ladies could help fill in the blanks, that would be great! I hope to get to know some of you when we do finally make it up there. 5 weeks!

Questions:

1. Were you given a full 10 days of TLA when you got there? How much did they give you per day?

2. I called housing and was told that the Saratoga/Rockhill Terrace and Victory Park houses (all the new stuff, basically) had a 4 month wait. Was this your experience or did you get into housing faster? They offered us the Whidbey Apartments with no wait. What are they like? Good, bad, ugly?

3. What is the commute (from all directions) like if we were to choose to live off base? Is there a lot of traffic on the island or long lines to get into base?

4. If anyone came from hawaii - long shot, but I thought I'd ask - how long did it take for your HHG and POV to arrive?

5. Do you like living in Whidbey? Anything to watch out for? Rants, raves? How is the commissary and Exchange?

Any info you can give in addition to my questions would be great too! Dh and I are so excited to come back to WA. We're just nervous about how everything will work out. At the moment, we're nervous about finding a place to live after that TLA runs out!

Thanks so much!
~Veronica

Hey, just wanted to say hi and welcome back to WA. I can't answer any of your questions as I'm Army and at Ft. Lewis. But I see everyone has viewed your post and no one has responded, I hate that! I don't like being ignored and I'm sure you don't either. So :weldust to MSOS and good luck with your move!!!

aww, you're a sweetheart! I try not to take it personally when nobody responds, but yea it hurts a little.. haha

do you like ft. lewis?

welcome back. petsparkle & dani live on whidbey. petsparkle is in oak harbor. dani is elsewhere. ask them questions. they have your answers. he he. i'm down in seattle.

I can't answer a lot of your q's because I'm not Navy, but I grew up on Whidbey and I love Love LOVED it.

I live in Whidbey! Its not bad! I would not take the Whidbey Apts! Of course there is no waiting list because they are awful! We hate them, but cant seem to find a way to get out of them!

Welcome to SOS!




1. Were you given a full 10 days of TLA when you got there? How much did they give you per day? Yes. Honestly I don't remember, it's been almost a year.

2. I called housing and was told that the Saratoga/Rockhill Terrace and Victory Park houses (all the new stuff, basically) had a 4 month wait. Was this your experience or did you get into housing faster? They offered us the Whidbey Apartments with no wait. What are they like? Good, bad, ugly? No clue about that housing. Dh is a chief and we were not offered that housing b/c it's for E6 and below I think. I did not like the looks of Whidbey Apartments, and wouldn't want to live there. However, I've never been inside so can't really say for sure what they are like.

3. What is the commute (from all directions) like if we were to choose to live off base? Is there a lot of traffic on the island or long lines to get into base? We've lived off base the entire time we've been here and it takes my husband about 10 min to get to work. We live in Oak Harbor.

4. If anyone came from hawaii - long shot, but I thought I'd ask - how long did it take for your HHG and POV to arrive? Around 2 weeks.

5. Do you like living in Whidbey? Anything to watch out for? Rants, raves? How is the commissary and Exchange? Whidbey is okay. I don't mind it for the short time we'll be here. It's a little too cold for us, especially coming from Hawaii. It's very small town and not much to do unless you're very outdoorsy. Just depends what your interests are. I do feel quite safe here, even when dh is gone. The commissary and NEX are fine. Not as big as the Pearl Harbor one, but adequate.

You might find these helpful:
http://rentwhidbey.com
www.whidbeyomesforrent.com
www.whidbeyrealestate.com
www.militarybyowner.com

thank you so much! That is some great information.

HI,

First off you are going to want to stock up on hoodies, and warm clothing, blankets, mittens. We lived in kitsap area and really didn't use our warm clothing much till we came here in fact we had gotten rid of our warm clothes. I had to restock on them and the kids live in them.

We came up here when the housing prices skyrocketed. They are now taking a dive. One area just reduced their new house prices a lot. What I would suggest is look at renting out in town, you may get a great rental price and maybe something below your BAH.


I do not believe the wait is long to get on the base. Sometimes they do close one of the gates for varying reasons however my dh has never complained about getting on. I think sometimes if you adjust your time a couple minutes one way or the other can make a difference too.

From my perspective the north side of the island tends to get more rain then we do. They also lose power more often than we do. If you live out in the country per se which is awesome make sure you check out the well water. Ours is iffy so we have to bring in our own water.

We are really going to miss this area.

Welcome to Whidbey! I can do what I can to answer questions as you have them. I have lived on the South End of Whidbey since 1994 and have an 8 month old son. DH is in the Navy stationed in Japan and has orders to Everett next Spring so we will be here for a while. Moving with horses is HARD! :hehe Again :welcome!