Anacortes Full Day Whale Watch

Highlights

Bigg's Killer Whales
Humpback Whales
Minke Whale
Harbor Seals
Sea Lions
Pigeon Guillemots
Rhinoceros Auklets
Common Murres
Glaucous-Winged Gulls
Heermann's gulls
Tufted Puffins

July 16, 2025 | 9 AM Full Day Whale Watch

We started our day with a peaceful slowdown along the southern coastline of Lopez Island. We drifted between smaller islands here, spying plenty of pigeon guillemots with fish in bill, some well camouflaged harbor seals, swallows, bald eagles and beautiful flowing bull kelp. We pushed out into the glassy waters of the Strait of Juan de Fuca where Tyson found us our first whales of the day! He spied a lone dorsal from a couple miles out, a dorsal belonging to T75A. Stone was traveling with his mother, T75, the two working the contour of Hein Bank. Their fins sliced through the water like butter, and rhinoceros auklets and common murres avoided their path.

We left them swimming southwest and made a turn to the northwest ourselves. It wasn’t long before we stumbled across more whales! The T75Cs, Bam-Bam and her 2021 offspring “Flint” were playing in bull kelp when we found them. They gave us a very warm hello, then proceeded to angle southwest towards their family. Even from several miles out, T75C was tail slapping, cartwheeling, flicking kelp with her flukes, and being all around incredibly surface active! Meanwhile, her brother Stone and mother Kidney were doing the same! It’s not every day we see such a clear example of how percussive surface actions can act as a form of communication over distance between whales. We stayed to watch the full family meet up, surfacing together in perfect synchrony after a prolonged dive. Wow!

We continued west from here, venturing towards Race Rocks in search of humpbacks. We were successful! Three humpback whales were enjoying the peaceful Juan de Fuca vibes today, gently surfacing as they slowly drifted along. Two of them surfaced from a long, leisurely dive off our starboard side, allowing us some incredible looks at every barnacle and tubercle that dotted their faces. With the clear, yet plankton filled, waters in the strait, we could track their movements even beneath the surface. Such a serene and special interaction. Two of these whales were new to science as of this year (HW-MN0503731 & HW-MN0510828) and one, “Pinnacle” has been a Salish Sea regular since 2019.

We ventured back east from here, briefly visiting with a fourth humpback and spying many harbor porpoises. As we neared Hein Bank again, Captain Carl found a minke taking out bait balls. It was pretty elusive, likely the same minke we’d seen a couple times earlier on in our journey. The bait balls were loud as the cries of gulls rang out across the bank.

At the northern Hein Bank marker, we slowed to visit with some cuddly Steller sea lions snoozing on the marker and some macabre cormorant nests…If you know, you know… The birding continued at Smith Bank, with more active bait balls that had tufted puffins in the mix! Such a fun highlight to end the day on.

We couldn’t think of a better place to spend a hot, hot, hot summer day than on the cool waters of the Salish Sea surrounded by wildlife.