Blaine’s Semiahmoo Resort restored to seaside luxury

BLAINE — It used to be a salmon cannery.

In old photographs found throughout its lobbies and restaurants, the recently renovated and top-rated Semiahmoo Resort celebrates the history and beauty of the spit on which it sits.

This mile-long spit is across Semiahmoo Bay from White Rock, British Columbia, and a short foot-ferry ride at the mouth of Drayton Harbor from the border town of Blaine.

The views of Mount Baker and the farmland to the east, the islands to the west and the shallow waters all around are spectacular.

It was a place where the Semiahmoo band of Coast Salish people living at the mouth of the Fraser River once harvested shellfish.

From the 1890s, the Alaska Packers Association operated a huge cannery there for nearly 80 years. A weathered water tower that looks over the resort is one historical remnant.

The resort first opened in 1987. Since then, it’s had ups and downs, along with several owners.

The current Semiahmoo owners have completed a multi-million-dollar restoration and they are eager to announce it.

Not knowing this promotional campaign was on, my husband and I spent a night there earlier this month just to check it out.

We went to college in Bellingham and travel often to Vancouver, but we had never been to Semiahmoo.

How unfortunate. The place is great.

Sure, it’s a bit pricey (did I mention that we stayed only one night?) but the resort offers deals to help cut down on costs. We paid about $150 for a room facing away from the water. Each room has plenty of amenities, including Wi-Fi, which you need that close to the border.

Semiahmoo Resort includes 212 guest rooms (some with balconies just feet from the beach), good restaurants, a pool and spa, tennis and beach volleyball courts, two golf courses (one designed by Arnold Palmer), kayaks, rocking chairs for the sunset, fire pits, kid-friendly beaches, trails for walking and biking, good kite breezes, great blue herons, harbor seals and bald eagles.

The relaxed Packers Oyster Bar is the place to enjoy upscale pub food, water views and comfortable seating.

The resort’s new Pierside Kitchen features fresh, seasonal cuisine focused on food from local and regional purveyors.

With floor-to-ceiling views of Semiahmoo Bay, the whitewashed, weathered-wood siding and ceilings of the dining room look historical, as though someone salvaged the heavy beams from one of the old cannery buildings. The resort won an interior design award for its restaurant.

And if you want to eat outside, the restaurant’s deck really is on the pier.

We ate dinner and breakfast in the Pierside Kitchen.

We started supper with a half-dozen fresh oysters still clinging to the half shells. They were so good, the appetizer was well-worth the buck-a-piece that we paid.

Instead of a conventional salad, I enjoyed the minted cold pea soup ($12) over fresh vegetables. It was tasty as well as visually pleasing. My husband ate a fork-and-knife caesar salad ($11) with a nice anchovy dressing and followed that with rack of lamb. I had the halibut special. As I recall, the entrees pushed the $30 mark each. (You only live once.)

For breakfast, we went with the brunch buffet for about $19 each. So much food.

I especially liked the local fresh yogurt, granola and blueberries, as well as the locally smoked salmon and bacon. The fresh berry blintzes need mentioning, too.

We needed a walk after breakfast. At the south end of the spit, Whatcom County operates a park that focuses on Semiahmoo history.

Or you can take the ferry to Blaine and walk around Peace Arch Park, visit popular nearby Birch Bay or drive over to White Rock, which I like to call B.C.’s Riviera.

My advice is to just sit on your bottom, enjoy Semiahmoo’s beaches and watch the herons stride by.

Gale Fiege: 425-339-3427; gfiege@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @galefiege.

For more info

For more information about Semiahmoo Resort, Golf and Spa visit www.semiahmoo.com. For reservations, call 855-917-3767. The resort is located about an hour north of Everett.