The Real Deception Island
Over the weekend I went on a real-life Nancy Drew adventure to explore the area that inspired our ninth game, Nancy Drew: Danger on Deception Island. The San Jaun islands along with Whidbey Island in the Puget Sound of Washington state have beautiful parks and awesome wildlife. (And yes, when I went there the skies were a kind of gray, just like the game.) In my entire life of being a Nancy Drew fan I thought there was no such thing as a real island named Deception Island, but I did know that the area of Deception Pass was the general setting style for the game.
When I went to Deception Pass State Park, I was pleasantly surprised that there really is an island named Deception Island! Take a look:
In between Fidalgo Island and Whidbey Island is Deception Pass and Canoe Pass, and further out near the tips of these islands is the little tiny tree-covered rock of an island that is too small to be occupied by anything. Sad. Still, I was really happy it actually existed! I did get to explore the beaches and secret coves and see some wildlife in the area (including crabs), but I chose not to go on the whale-watching tour since I knew there were no whales in the area at the time. Perhaps in the future I will!
Have you visited any locations that remind you of the Nancy Drew games?
We also have a birthday to celebrate!
-Little Jackalope
Oh wow, so neat! It even looks a little like the atmosphere of DDI! 😀
I actually looked up the San Juan Islands once and found Deception Island on a map. I was excited too! I’ve never been to any of the places Nancy has gone in the games (except Washington D.C., but that was just the airport so it probably doesn’t count), but I really, really want to go to Arizona and explore the desert, just like in The Secret of Shadow Ranch. Maybe someday…
Yes! There is this place in New Mexico where there were cliff dwellings (drawings). And it remind me of The Secret of Shadow Ranch!
Not saying you should, but have you ever considered adding a skip button to puzzles?
We have considered that, but then thought against it since the puzzles are a big part of the games. We spend a lot of time working on them to fit in with the story.
Yes never get rid of the puzzles! It wouldn’t be the same.
on june 7th can you give two birthday shoutouts? one to Sam(me)with any theme and one to Andrea (my twin) with danger on deception island theme? she loves whales. and on the 11th can you give a birthday shoutout to veronica with a silent spy theme? thank you so much!
You bet! All three are on my calendar. 😉
all of us are turning 13. and I just realized I said two birthday shoutouts,not three. sorry!
I saw it, no worries! 😀
Wow that sounds awesome. We don’t travel much so I haven’t been to a this-reminds-me-of-a-Nancy-drew-game location.
Danger on Deception Island will always be one of my favorite games, mainly because I live in the Seattle area, which is very close to the San Juan Islands.
Really? Awesome! You are close to our office, then?
Yeah, I live around half an hour north of your offices.
Every now and again I will take my camera and go back behind our house into the woods and there is alot of paths to take and it reminds me of Ghost Dogs of Moon Lake. Minus the dogs. Well, there is a few dogs but luckily they don’t glow.
I love Ghost Dogs! Do you hunt for birds to snap pictures of?
Sooo cool, I had no idea there was a real Deception Island, thanks for sharing! That’s a great picture of it as well.
That will always be one of my favorite games.
My bday is on June 6th, I was wondering if I could have a shout out with a cool theme, maybe the Captive Curse or GOTH? Those are my two all time favorites 🙂
You rock LJ
You bet! It’s on my calendar. 😉
Danger on Deception Island is one of my favorite games! I love the music in that game and the nautical theme throughout 🙂 Also, I was browsing around on the merchandise store shopping for a gift for my sister, and I was wondering if you could work on making a design with a picture of Dave Gregory from Shadow Ranch?
Sadly, at this moment we cannot create images of characters from the older games because of the resolution. It would look like a blurry or pixelated image. This is on our own wishlist too, and we *might* find a solution in the future for this.
In fact I do. The other day I did a video edit of a baby bird and I was literally on top of it and I had my camera and phone so I was snapping away. Great shots. Really detailed. The mother bird was right above me, but I snapped some of her too. I really like taking shots of cardinals in snow. Beautiful. or bluejays. Eagles. Whoo! I like to take pictures of nature and some of my photos well, not to sound boastful, arent have bad. Nobody answer. Anyway, my favorite would probably be nature. Wildlife. Water. Especially waterfalls. I really liked the waterfall in The Shattered Medallion. I bought it last friday and i am at the waterfall. I could sit and stare at it for hours. Anyway, I would like to go into Photography or Art professionally but..I dont know Im afraid I would make a mess of everything anyway, I do. Do you like Photography too? Because I cant help but notice alot of your pictures on the blog
Keep practicing your photography! Here’s a tip: ask for tips and be open to constructive criticism so you can learn and grow better in your work. 😀 I’m actually a terrible photographer. XD But I like capturing the beauty of nature, too.
Cool! I love photography, and I’m hoping to start a photography business with my friend when we grow up…(because, if you think about it, being a professional photographer is an amazing cover for being a detective…so we’re actually going to be both lol) 😛 I most certainly agree about taking tips and constructive criticism! I love Creative Writing in school, but I used to be horrible at it until I took my mom’s advice. Practicing a lot helps too! Oh, and LJ? I’m sure this is going to be the only time I disagree with you, but you’re an awesome photographer! 😀 All the blog pictures look great! 😛
The baby bird was old enough to fly because about 10 minutes of watching, it flew, well, tried to fly. I think he was in class. The mother bird was squawking like crazy at it. Or probably at me. Ha! It was really neat.
Other than graveyards,can’t really say I’ve been anywhere that reminds me of the games since discovering the games. However, prior to playing the games, I’ve been to many places that the games reminded me off. I lived in England for a few years & while there, spent some time in a boarding school. Both CUR & WAV reminded me of my time in England, CUR for the setting in England, food names, cockney, accents, word choices, etc & WAV due to the boarding school setting. CAP reminded me of my time in Germany. DDI, RAN, & MED all reminded me of my time in Southern Florida. I lived there for a few years & spent quite a bit of time in the Keys, learned to kayak & canoe there, plus Dad had a motor boat & we spent quite a bit of time on it in the Gulf of Mexico & also went snorkeling off of it. HAU reminded me of my time in Ireland. SPY reminded me of my time in Scotland. SAW reminded me of my time in Japan. Haunted Mansion (can’t remember the usual abbreviation for it) reminded me of all the times I stayed in a B&B (England, Ireland, Scotland, The Netherlands. . .)GTH reminded me of the Southern Plantation homes we visited over the years
Wow, you’ve been all over the world! Do you have a favorite place?
I loved each place, for different reasons & don’t really have a favourite. I think my favourite place (I’ve been to) in the US would be the Island of Lanai in Hawaii. In Europe, would probably be Thorpeness, England, although I loved everywhere I went Europe, Thorpeness was great. We lived in an old Tudor house which was used as a summer rental (we lived there during the winter). We had an electric metre in the downstairs loo that we had to feed 50p coins to & if the money ran out (as happened once), the power turned off until we put more money in. We were just a block from the beach & practically across the street from a pond which froze over in winter & became an ice skating pond. Next door, our landlords ran a little cafe (they lived above it) where I used to often go with my mother for tea & ice cream. In Asia, my favourite place was Ishikawa (in Okinawa, Japan). We lived in a house on a cliff over the beach. We just had to walk down a few houses to get to the stairs to go down to the beach. My baby-sitter used to take my sister & I there every time she baby-sat us during the day & my parents also frequently took us there. I was 5 when we moved. There were these interesting caves in the cliff that had been used by soldiers, as hiding places, during WWII & some were used as WWII graves. I found the whole history of those caves fascinating & loved exploring the open ones with my baby-sitter. I had already discovered Nancy Drew books & had read several by then, exploring those caves made me feel just like Nancy.
Oh, That’s is so neat! You were living a Nancy Drew moment, huh? 😀 So far, I’ve never been to a Nancy Drew place, but I’ve made an effort to eat foods from the games like gelato from Venice, for instance.
There needs to be a game based in Vegas…. I think that would be kind of neat. And I’m not just sayin that cuz I live in Vegas.