Anacortes Whale Watch

Highlights

Bigg's Killer Whales (T124A2s & T87)
Humpback Whales ( CRC-19235 "Scuba" & BCX-1416 "Phi")
Harbor Seals
Bald Eagles

May 11, 2025 | 10 AM Whale Watch

Yet another spectacular Mother's Day with orca whales and humpback whales right in our backyard! It's always exciting when whales are so close to Anacortes. Anacortes is the perfect gateway into the San Juan Islands and some days the action isn't too far from the dock!

Starting off northbound around Guemes Island, we saw lots of sea birds including cormorants and auklets. We stopped at Viti Rocks and checked out a couple juvenile bald eagles and a nice bob of harbor seals before Sam and Captain Carl spotted some orca whales prey sharing along the Lummi Island shoreline. We got on scene and soon were able to tell they were Bigg's orcas just by the prey they were dragging at the surface. We got ID shots in no time and found they were the T124A2s and 86A1s. We followed them for a while and watched as some juvenile eagles came out to try and grab some scraps and the little orcas played in the water. As we reached the end of Lummi Island Carl spotted a big male in the distance and we were soon on scene with Harbeson the oldest male in the west coast Biggs population! We watched a brief hunting encounter off our stern but the orcas lost interest and continued on with their travels.

We waved goodbye and headed down to James Island where we joined humpback whales Scuba (CRC-19235) and Phi (BCX-1416) traveling north in Rosario Strait. After some great looks we headed back down Guemes Channel and got some final looks at T87 Harbeson before making our way back into the Marina. What a fin-tastic Mother's Day adventure!

-Naturalist Tyson