Thanks for being patient with me ladies. A part of me is saying "just get there and figure it out yourself!" but then I figure its best to know what I'm getting into beforehand so I'm asking here.

so, if I am in Oak Harbor and I want to drive off whidbey going North through Anacortes, how long would it take me to get off the island?

Conversely, if I wanted to go to Seattle, would it be easier to drive south to the Clinton/Mukilteo ferry and just ride that across? Once you factor in ferry time, which is the faster route to Seattle? Driving off the island or taking the ferry?

And someone told me that both ferries off the island break down a lot and are unreliable? Any truth to this? What has your experience been?

Thank you so much! I dont mean to be a nuisance.
~Veronica

It takes about a half hour from Oak Harbor to Anacortes.

It really doesn't matter if you take the fairy or drive around because the fairy goes to the southern tip of the island so you still have to drive up it. kwim?

just be warned there is a time warp driving off the island. :lol
If you can time it to catch the ferry as it leaves it can shorten your time by a bit, but nor really. what sucks is when you miss it and now you have to wait for the next one.
We never had an issue with ferries breaking down when we lived there.

We always found it was just faster/easier to drive rather then take the ferry unless someone with us wanted to go on the Ferry.