Anacortes Whale Watch

Highlights

Bigg's Killer Whales (T37A's and T99's)
Humpback

July 9, 2025 | 1 PM Whale Watch

We left the marina this afternoon and barreled west into the Salish sea, passing a bald eagle around Cap Sante look out before cruising down to Colville island. At Colville island we found another adult bald eagle and a few hauled out harbor seals. With reports of larger animals in the distant west, we turned out into the strait of Juan de Fuca. Near Constance bank, we joined up with the T37A's and the T99's. Two separate Bigg's orca whale pods, led by matriarchs T37A Volker and T99 Bella, were traveling together west. The two 16 year old sprouter males in this group, Volker's son T37A2 Inky and Bella's son T99C Barakat, impressed us with their quickly growing dorsal fins, which made them easy to distinguish. These two boys hung together toward the back of the group while the others cruised ahead, at times porpoising at high speeds! We hung with them for as long as we could, even getting to see them turn to check us out as they changed direction unexpectedly and veered south. As we watched the orcas, two humpbacks appeared in the distance but soon disappeared from sight. After making our way off scene, Captain Amy found us another humpback whale near Hein bank and the "RA" Buoy, but it was on a mission to show us how long it could hold its breath and took an extremely long dive. We got a couple great looks though before it disappeared and continued toward Haro Strait. We continued back to Anacortes after saying goodbye to this humpback, riding the seas and enjoying a nice cruise home into the flat calm water of Rosario Strait and Guemes Channel.

- Tyson