Anacortes Whale Watch

Highlights

Killer whales: T419s
Gray whale
Steller sea lions
Harbor seals
Bald eagles & more birds!

April 17, 2026 | 1 PM Whale Watch

The T419s are in town!!! The cookie cutter pod, the mystery orcas, whatever you like to call them, this fascinating group of three killer whales was right in our backyard this afternoon and we couldn’t be more excited! These orcas of unknown origins were first officially documented a year ago in Anchorage, Alaska. In March, they showed up in the Port of Vancouver before making their way down to Puget Sound. They’ve spent the majority of the past month wandering the southern waters of the Salish Sea, so we were shocked and elated when they turned up in Burrow’s Bay this morning! Until researchers learn more about which population they’re apart of, they’ve been given the temporary IDs T419, T420 & T421.

We caught up with them just as they were initiating a harbor seal hunt at Lawson Reef. Thank you Captain Tyson for the perfect timing, as we got to witness a truly epic display of coordinated hunting behavior by this family. We watched the youngest member of the pod honing their skills, at times mirroring the matriarch. While we don’t know what population they’re apart of, they certainly hunted in a similar fashion to our West Coast Bigg’s.

This encounter was the true highlight of our adventure, but there were so many other noteworthy moments! We enjoyed sights of the Burrow’s Island Lighthouse on our way south to Williamson Rocks. At this National Wildlife Refuge, we spied seals peeking up at us from the water, a beautiful pair of bald eagles, glaucous winged gulls and a cute little pigeon guillemot. We enjoyed a cruise past the Deception Pass Bridge, drifting quickly with the flooding tide. Venturing down the Whidbey coastline, we happened upon a gray whale feeding in the shallows beneath the flight path of the jets taking off from N.A.S. Whidbey. Following the Bigg’s encounter, we visited with four sleepy Steller sea lions on a navigational marker, pelagic cormorants perched above them. Finally, on the cruise home we sighted pods of harbor porpoises working the currents offshore of Washington Park.

-Sam