Anacortes Whale Watch

Highlights

Humpback whale (Gretzky)
Elephant seal
Sea Otter
Steller sea lions
California sea lion

April 25, 2026 | 1 PM Whale Watch

What a day for unique marine mammal sightings! We visited a female elephant seal on Goose Island, found a gorgeous California sea lion hidden amongst the Steller haul out at Whale Rocks, enjoyed a friendly encounter with Gretzky the humpback whale, and ended with a sea otter near Swirl who was breaking open scallops. Such a phenomenal assortment of marine mammal species with conservation success stories, making for fantastic opportunities to discuss the importance of protection efforts.

The weather was gorgeous and the mountains were out today. We enjoyed views of the Olympics to the south as we searched Rosario Strait for some early morning reports. In our continued search, we tucked into Thatcher Pass, cruised along the eastern side of Willow Island, rounded Upright Head, then dodged a minefield of driftwood upon entering San Juan Channel. We’d had a smattering of harbor porpoise sightings, enjoyed watching pigeon guillemots chase each other around, spied paired up rhinoceros auklets, and marveled at low-flying bald eagles. We met up with Gretzky (CRC-17702) near McArthur Bank. They wowed us with some surprise close looks and many views of their gorgeous flukes! All while Kulshan watched over the scene from afar.

-Sam