Anacortes Whale Watch

Highlights

Bigg’s killer whales (T99s, T37A4, T65A5)
Steller sea lions
Harbor seals (have had better days)
Dead porpoise?
Red-necked phalaropes
Marbled murrelets

August 25, 2026 | 1 PM Whale Watch

We were truly spoiled by Mother Nature today, with some truly intimate time spent with members of several different Bigg's matrilines. As we entered Bellingham Bay, we spied splashes on the horizon through the smokey haze. It was the T99s and T37A4, who had just finished up a hunt and were in celebratory spirits! Tail slaps, cartwheels and multiple series of breaches by "qwiin qwinn oo qwii la" sent waves through the glassy stillness of the bay. What an entrance by these six orcas.

We witnessed them transition from play time, to family travel, to spread out stalking as they approached the shallows near Samish Island. Between surface intervals we marveled at flocks of red-necked phalaropes and puzzled over a dead little cetacean (likely a harbor porpoise but we can't be 100% sure) being picked at by gulls. The whales then led us west along the Samish shoreline and past Point Williams which was bursting with fall colors.

We left the T99s and continued our search for wildlife. We cut west past the Cone Islands and Towhead Island, slowing to scope the shallows near Sinclair. Sharp-eyed guests spied a dark dorsal... It was Indy! We never know where T65A5 will show up next, but are always delighted to see this mysterious little whale. Indy led us through bull kelp forests and up to a reef that was covered in cormorants, gulls, a great blue heron, and harbor seals... We watched with bated breath as Indy circled the reef repeatedly, trying his best to startle the seals from the shoreline. It did appear like he grabbed lunch, as his behavior changed to shaking his dorsal back and forth at the surface as if ripping into prey. What a self-sufficient little whale.

As we were leaving Indy, we heard the tell-tale calls of marbled murrelets! Sure enough, several of these little endangered seabirds were near a navigational marker playing host to two sleepy Steller sea lions. We also saw a few pigeon guillemots still sporting their summer plumage.

As we headed for home, we heard that the T99s were trying to meet us there. We enjoyed a final Bigg's encounter with Bella and her kids, plus Crinkle, as they hunted a harbor seal in the shallows of Padilla Bay. Not a great day for harbor seals, but a brilliant day of Bigg's showing how they maintain balance best.

Sam