Anacortes Whale Watch

Highlights

Biggs Killer Whales (T124Ds, T71B, T49As)
Harbor Seals
Sharp-Shinned Hawk
Juvenile Bald Eagle

April 2, 2026 | 1 PM Whale Watch

After leaving the marina, we headed west towards Pointer Island. Once there, we were fortunate enough to spot a lovely group of harbor seals basking on the rocks, and we also saw a whole lot of cormorants hanging around. After that we continued west through the islands, to Pole pass where we slowed once again for a nice cruise through the narrow waters. While entering the pass we had a fly over by a sharp-shinned hawk which disappeared just as quickly as it had flown into view.

It wasn't long after this rare sighting that we got on scene with a group of orca whales. We were able to identify them as the T124D's and T71B. They were cruising together and headed up Presidents channel, right against the Orcas island shores. While we watched the whales, a juvenile bald eagle came in and we got to see it make several attempts at catching a fish before finally being successful and flying off with its lunch. Captain carl got word of another pod in the area and so we split off from the T124D's and headed back toward Friday harbor.

As we passed Yellow island Captain Carl spotted some fins and soon we were on scene with the T49A's. This pod of Bigg's orca whales was almost all together, minus the two oldest males. We got many great looks at the pod and even got to enjoy several looks at the newest calf, born sometime in early March! After one final pass from siblings T49A3 Nat and T49A4 Neptune as they headed to rejoin their mom T49A Nan and the pod, we headed back toward Anacortes, with blue skies all around, having enjoyed a wonderful day on the Salish sea.

-Tyson