Anacortes Whale Watch

Highlights

Bigg's Killer Whales
Steller Sea Lions
Harbor Seals
Bald Eagles

May 30, 2025 | 3 PM Whale Watch

What a blissful evening spent with Bigg’s killer whales. I don’t know that the southern Strait of Georgia seas could have been calmer. It was like a lake, and the high layers of textured clouds made for a watercolor-like setting. This alone would have honestly made for an incredible evening cruise, but when you factor in fifteen orcas, well, that’s just spectacular. It was a true T-party, with the T46Bs, T123s, and T124A2s all in attendance.

We met up with the whales just northwest of Clark Island, and they slowly led us down towards Rosario Strait. Quiver (T46B4) and Agafia (T124A2A) were being surface active and rambunctious while the rest of the families rested, often surfacing in synchrony with one another. Mini spyhops, waves of their tails, and lots of rolling at the surface were observed. We couldn’t help but fawn over little Munro (T46B3A), one of the newest members of the West Coast Bigg’s population. This little nugget was sticking close to mama Sedna, a new mother who has some incredible role models to learn from.

Other highlights of our day included a crazy eagle encounter along the shores of Vendovi Island. Captain Carl sighted at least six fighting over food in the intertidal zone. We also found a couple gatherings of hauled out harbor seals at Viti Rocks and visited with cormorants, gulls, pigeon guillemots and black oyster catchers. We ended the day with one of the most entertaining Steller sea lion encounters. There were about six of them piled on top of a channel marker, and a smaller one kept leaping from the water trying to find room. It settled on top of the largest sea lion there, before ultimately being kicked off by the disgruntled pillow.

Truly a perfect evening <3

-Sam