Anacortes Full Day Whale Watch

Highlights

90 Nautical Miles
Bigg's killer whales (T100s minus T100E)
Three humpbacks (Gibbous, Split fin, Orion)
Spieden Island full of life!

July 15, 2026 | 10 AM Full Day Whale Watch

Another fantastic full day adventure in the books! We began west through Guemes Channel, rounding the corner into a foggy Rosario Strait. To the south, the jagged tips of the Olympic mountains shot up bright and clear. Curving around the gray bank, we aimed up Bellingham Channel towards blue skies . Along our way north, we soaked up gorgeous views of Mt. Baker and took a quick stop at the Peapods where we spotted mom and pup harbor seal pairs as well as a lone bald eagle perched on a day marker to scan the exposed intertidal zone below.

Continuing up to Pender Island, we met up with the T100s! This charming family of Bigg's killer whales is led by matriarch T100 Hutchins. Traveling with her were her two kiddos, T100C Laurel and T100F Estrella. This trio led us east past Blunder island and amazed us with a gorgeous pass after a deep dive. After a little misdirection, the group split then quickly came back together to continue east. After this encounter, we slowly turned off scene to continue our adventure.

Working our way towards Point Disney and Waldron Island, we soon spotted three tall distant blows in Presidents channel. After some initial investigation, we discovered these blows belonged to three humpback whales! With some beautiful ID shots of their flukes, we were introduced to BCY0770 Gibbous, BCZ0298 Split Fin, and BCX1251 Orion. These three traveled in a tight knit group and spent so much time right at the surface. We got to see some stunning sounding flukes from all three of these whales, Split Fin even giving us a sideways tail rotation on one of his sounding dives. Guests got a great first hand example of how each humpbacks flukes look different, with Split Fins bright white pigmentation making him a stand out in the group.

After visiting with these three humpback whales, we cruised over to Spieden island where we spotted many bald eagles, both mature and juveniles individuals, mouflon sheep, and actively feeding pigeon guillemots. On the northern side of the island, we even got to see more mouflons down by the waters edge eating algae and drinking fresh water!

We then curved back to Presidents channel and along the backside of Matia island, admiring a beautiful sandstone sculpted shoreline. On the top of Sinclair, we passed by some Steller sea lions snoozing on a channel marker with a few cormorants nestled into its upper pockets. We finished the day exploring Bellingham Channel, Viti rocks, and the east side of Vendovi. We slowed along the eastern side of Guemes Island to finish up recapping our fantastic day before turning back into Cap Sante. What a day!!

-Tyson, Sam M., Amy, Sam K., and Juliann