Anacortes Whale Watch

Highlights

Bigg's killer whales (T36s, T60D, T60E)
Sea Otter
Sea Lions
Harbor Seals

September 28, 2025 | 12 PM Whale Watch

With very little wind around and the roar of motorcycles echoing through Anacortes, we made our way out into the Salish sea. Immediately upon leaving the marina we started seeing harbor porpoises popping out of the water. It wasn't much further after that when we did our first slow down on the east side of Guemes Channel to check out a bob of harbor seals hauled out onto a private dock. We cruised down the channel after that and saw some more porpoises before heading down Rosario Strait and cruising by Castle Rock. South Lopez Island and Castle Rock were busy with birds today and we watched a couple belted king fishers zooming around above the water along with a great blue heron, some Brandt's cormorants, and a common loon. We continued west after that and made our next stop at Whale Rocks as it was covered in seals and sea lions. A few were sparring with each other, some were napping and one even had a tracking number on it. After the smell began to overwhelm us, we continued on up to Turn island. It took us a few minutes to find but while at Turn Island we found a sea otter that was busy digging into a sea urchin, that was almost as big as its head.

Continuing a little further up San Juan Channel, we joined a group of Bigg's orcas as they were moving west. It didn't take long to determine that these were the famous T60 brothers. It seemed they'd joined forces with an incredibly well known family, the T36s! The 36s are an incredibly special group because there are four generations present, grandma (T36), mom (T36B), daughter (T36B1), and granddaughter (T36B1A)! This big group cruised slowly up the Shaw island shores and we were able to get some amazing looks at them as the youngsters goofed off. Turning back east, we got some beautiful views of Mt. Kulshan/Baker as we headed for home. It was a wonderful time in the Salish Sea today!!!

-Tyson