- Camano Island is the second largest of the dozens of islands in the northern Puget Sound that were formed by glacial deposits during the last Ice Age. Encompassing about 40 square miles, the island is 16 miles long from north to south and has about 50 miles of shoreline. Several Coast Salish tribes shared the island until non-Native settlers arrived in the 1850s to operate timber and shipbuilding businesses at Utsalady Bay. Camano Island became a vacation destination in the twentieth century and remains a popular spot for recreation and relaxation. No town has been incorporated on the island, but the population has increased steadily, from 1,395 in 1960 to more than 17,000 in 2020.