Anacortes Whale Watch

Highlights

Humpback whale
Bigg's killer whales
Harbor seals
Bald eagles

July 16, 2026 | 10 AM and 3 PM Whale Watch

10 AM

This mornings trip was one for the books! As we left the dock and turned towards Guemes Channel we felt the ocean air conditioning and fog kick on, but that did not stop us! We searched hard and were able to find a humpback whale that fluked multiple times along Decatur Island. Shortly after the humpback whale, we heard word of Orcas near by so we made our way there and as conditions quickly cleared up, orcas came into view and to our surprise, it was a T party!! We counted 10 Orcas in total. We had members from the T123’s, T37A’s and T37B’s. Not only did we get to see multiple pods together, we saw them work together to hunt and take down a Stellar Sea lion! We got to see the unlucky sea lion multiple times at the surface to confirm the hunt. Stanley, T132A, breeched twice for us! It was fantastic! The breeches were followed by tail slaps and celebrations! Eventually, we had to leave and head back to the dock and as we ended our tour, it started to rain so we just missed it! What a great start to the day! - Clare

3 PM

We have a sticker in our sea store that says rain won’t stop us… and that is the motto we lived by on our trip! Pulling off the dock we had some rain and thunder, both of which quickly cleared up as we made our way into Guemes Channel. We headed towards Thatcher Pass and did slow downs at Pointer Island and Willow Island were we saw Gulls, Cormorants and Harbor Seals. We then continued on our way towards the Orcas Island Ferry Terminal where we saw the same T party still together just outside the ferry route. This group was bundled close together frequently coming to the surface to take short breaths together. We saw them sort of wake up quickly and start clicking at a few other boats! We then saw them start to become active on the surface with tail slaps, a young member of the group breaching and lots of splashing! Eventually our time to make our turn towards home had come. We slowed down by Lummi Island to check out five very vocal Stellar sea lions on a navigation marker. It was a great ending to an epic day! - Clare