Anacortes Whale Watch

Highlights

Humpback Whale
Minke Whale
Steller Sea Lions
Harbor Seals
Bald Eagles
Harbor Porpoises

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

Talk about smoky skies! Some serious wildfire smoke rolled in from the Olympic Peninsula just as we were getting off the dock this afternoon. It was eerie to have conditions equivalent to thick fog in the straits knowing it was not fog… But this didn’t prevent us from finding an abundance of life!

We started at Bird Rocks, where our little sea otter friend was back and rolling amongst the kelp! Around him were harbor seals, pups included, pigeon guillemots, Brant’s and double crested cormorants, Heermann’s and glaucous winged gulls and more! The islands were teeming with life, making for a wonderful first stop of the day.

We continued south, passing harbor porpoises and flocks of alcids. We angled west for Whale Rocks, stopping to visit with the boisterous Steller sea lions gathered here today. We cruised onto Salmon Bank, slowing near the navigational marker to visit with a very friendly little minke whale! The water here was glass, perfect minke viewing conditions. Every bit of kelp floating at the surface was clear to see, and with the haze it was at times hard to tell where the water stopped and the sky began.

Our return trip home included a search of McArthur Bank, Lawson Reef and southern Rosario Strait. We slowed at the Burrow’s Island Lighthouse where we found a mature bald eagle, then rounded the corner into Guemes Channel towards home.

The smoke was beginning to clear a bit as we left the dock for our evening adventure. New reports of whales had come in between trips, so with excitement we ventured out into Rosario Strait scanning hard for blows. The seas were glassy, and every common murre and rhinoceros auklet was easy to spy.

We visited Bird Rocks, spying our sea otter friend holding an urchin in one paw and a clam in the other while drifting amongst the kelp. This little guy should eat around a quarter of his body weight a day to meet his metabolic demands, a good thing for the kelp forests around Bird Rocks who rely on predators to check the urchin populations. We also found gull chicks, cormorants, harlequin ducks, black oystercatchers and black turnstones.

After a big loop of searching in mid-Rosario, we got word from a friend that the humpback had pushed against the tide to the south and was near Allan Island. Sure enough, a beautiful mature humpback was sounding amongst the raindrops. The oncoming rains did wonders to clear the smoke from the air, and the sea was so calm we could see every drop send ripples across the surface. It was a fun encounter, and after some teasing flukings, we were able to ID this whale with the help of Happywhale as PWF-NP_3773. This individual has only been formally documented near the Salish Sea twice in its thirty-seven year record! We felt privileged to welcome it to the San Juans, and wondered if it will become a regular visitor.

We ventured over to the beautiful Deception Pass, spying great blue herons perched atop kelp, pigeon guillemots, harbor porpoises and more. We then searched Burrows Bay on the way home, enjoying some new coastal views before making the turn back into Guemes Channel.

-Sam