Anacortes is the only city on this relatively small island, and already has most of the same information, despite the two articles not really linking to each other. Ironically, two of the three listings aren't even on the island itself.

I think we should delete this article, and redirect to Anacortes. Alternatively, I can pull out any relevant information into Fidalgo Island. However, I think travellers would be better served by seeing all the info on one page. Gerode (talk) 04:14, 21 October 2024 (UTC)Reply

I'm thinking about this again, and how to best organize Fidalgo Island, Anacortes (the city that takes up half of island's area and almost all of the potential listings), and Deception Pass State Park (the point-of-interest on the island that's not in or around Anacortes, which also includes a chunk of Whidbey Island).

I think Deception Pass State Park can support its own article. It gets 2 million visitors a year, many of whom are from out-of-state; it has a large campground, some small campgrounds, and a few motels just across its boundary; it has history, geology, and nature; it has trails and boat launches; it's awesome. There's already a stub in Whidbey_Island#Deception_Pass that I'm willing to develop.

When that's done, everything interesting on Fidalgo Island that I can find is either in or around Anacortes or in or around Deception Pass, so I'll divvy up the content and redirect this page to Anacortes.

The alternative I see, which I respect but don't prefer, is to keep Fidalgo Island around for Anacortes Community Forest Lands/Mt. Erie and the Swinomish Resort/SR-20 listings that are actually within Anacortes city limits but outside the developed part of town. I don't yet know what side Wikivoyage leans toward on lumper/splitter debates.

I don't know much about the existing listings for Skagit Island and Hope Island, but looking at the map, I'm not sure why they're here in the first place. The closest public boat launches appear to be from Deception Pass or La Conner, so I'll probably put them there.

I intend to tackle this in a few weeks, unless I get feedback to hold off! Gerode (talk) 01:42, 28 April 2025 (UTC)Reply

I agree that having seperate Anacortes and Fidalgo Island articles doesn't make sense. I don't know the area, so I will defer to your local knowledge, but if Anacortes is only part of Fidalgo Island, shouldn't the merged article be the Fidalgo Idland one, with Anacortes as a redirect to it? Ground Zero (talk) 16:25, 29 April 2025 (UTC)Reply

I'm open to that. I preferred "Anacortes" because it has better name recognition than "Fidalgo Island" - it's what the highway signs use and it's the name of the ferry terminal that most visitors are there for. However, a casual visitor will encounter both names, and "Fidalgo Island" is more accurate and precise than "Anacortes plus stuff nearby".

If it can be written well enough, what redirects to what doesn't matter much. Can you think of any good example articles covering a small island dominated by a single town of a different name? Gerode (talk) 21:01, 29 April 2025 (UTC)Reply

You know the area better than I do, so I support your call on this. Redirecting Fidalgo Island to Anacortes, and then making it clear in the first paragraph that the Anacortes article covers all of Fidalgo Island can work. Ground Zero (talk) 18:00, 5 May 2025 (UTC)Reply

I folded the article into Anacortes. I could see User:Someone Else resurrecting this article if they want to create good standalone content for Swinomish Village and/or Reservation, the one thing I'm aware of that's awkward under this Anacortes/Deception Pass split. Gerode (talk) 23:11, 17 May 2025 (UTC)Reply