Anacortes Whale Watch

Highlights

Bigg's Killer Whales (T99s)
Humpback Whales (BCZ0345 Victory and others)
Harbor Seals
Brown Pelican
Great Blue Heron
Kingfishers
Marbled Murrelets
Turkey Vultures
Eagles

August 20, 2025 | 1 PM and 5 PM Whale Watch

With word of whales to the south, we cruised down Rosario Strait past the Burrows Island Lighthouse and Williamson Rocks towards Deception Pass. We spied great blue herons, belted kingfishers, cormorants, pigeon guillemots and even a pair of marbled murrelets in the pass! At Strawberry Island we found harbor seals snoozing in the shallows.

We continued south to Crescent Harbor where we found the T99s working the shallows. This pod of five Bigg’s killer whales led us past the mouth of the Oak Harbor Marina, then on towards the entrance to Penn Cove. We watched as Barakat draped bull kelp over his dorsal fin and little “qwinn qwinn oo qwii la” hung close to mom’s side.

On the cruise home. We enjoyed sunshine and calm seas all the way home to Cap Sante Marina.

Tonight was one for the humpbacks. At the start of our evening cruise, word came in of an entangled humpback whale in Rosario Strait. Our crew was able to assist with the relocation of this individual, allowing time for a disentanglement response team to arrive on scene and take over. We will share full details of this encounter in time.

Once we left the scene, our whale and wildlife adventure resumed. We cruised down to Castle Island where the tide was high and the bull kelp flowing. We spied bald eagles and turkey vultures soaring above us, and even witnessed a newly fledged turkey vulture awkwardly take flight!

About a mile south of Colville Island, we met up with two more humpback whales! These two were cruising in tandem, gracefully working their way east, every exhalation brilliantly illuminated in the evening sun. A couple miles west of them, near McArthur Bank, humpback whale “Victory” was weaving amongst flocks of common murres and gulls.

We worked our way back up Rosario Strait, stopping at the Bird Rocks National Wildlife Refuge. I know we call it Bird Rocks for a reason but man there were a TON of birds this evening. Everyone coming back to roost before the sun set. Double crested, pelagic and Brant’s cormorants; Heermann’s and glaucous winged gulls amongst others; black oyster catchers; black turnstones; pigeon guillemots; harlequin ducks; and a brown pelican hiding amongst the bunch (good eyes Eric)! Not to mention the harbor seals also in the mix! The islands were bursting with life.

As we left Bird Rocks, we spied two blows further north in Rosario Strait. We gave it a good search but never found who they belonged to, though undoubtedly they were humpbacks. The sun set as we worked our way back to Cap Sante, painting the sky at the end of our adventure.

Five or six unique humpbacks in one evening is a pretty wild night, and we were glad to be able to assist in helping a little whale in distress.