We are thinking about visiting the san juan islands specifically to see orca whales. Does anyone have a recommendation for where or who to go out with? Is sea kayaking much better than taking a boat tour? Where is a good hotel to stay to maximize our time trying to see these animals? We will be travelling in late august. Thanks in advance

Hi bigcountry,

While sea kayaking would be a lot of fun in the San Juans, if your goal is to see Orcas, I'd suggest you take a boat tour. The boat tour operators communicate with each other and on-shore, so they know where the pods are and can motor over to where the Orcas are headed in time for you to see them. In a kayak, the outfitters would have to make educated guesses.

I think you'd enjoy kayaking to some of the islands you can't get to by car and have a wonderful kayak adventure.

It's not like the waters are just brimming with orcas, by the way. We have gone to the San Juans many times and seen them rarely (We haven't been looking for them).

Hi Orcas, Looks like i found the right guy to talk to. haha. Anyway, would travelling up to victoria increase our chances of seeing whales or its just as much of a crap shoot up there?

Same difference. The Orcas circle around the San Juan Islands. The boats have to go to them. Victoria is close, but the San Juans are more central.

Just to add to what Orcas said (which I agree with), late August is a less reliable time to see them than in June and early July. The orcas follow the salmon they feed on, and by late in the summer, the salmon are more likely to be found near the rivers they spawn in so further from the islands whereas in June/early July, many more salmon are running through the Haro Strait (between San Juan Island and Victoria). But you may get lucky and they will be close enough to the islands that you'll get a sighting.

As far as where to stay, I think at this point it will be more about where you can find availability than anything else. There aren't a lot of what I would call "hotels" in the islands in any event--more inns, b&bs, motels, etc. What type of place are you looking for, are you traveling with kids, what's your budget?

We have an 11 month old so just looking at websites, i was thinking of trying the Roche Harbor as b&b's don't really mix well with young ones. Also I understand your point about about Aug being a little late for the whales but on a website it claimed up through september they have a 90% success rate of seeing them. Do you think this is unreliable? It was the outfit I found off the roche harbor website. Anyway thanks in advance.

I think the stats are reliable. Roche Harbor would be a great place for you with a baby (You won't see Orcas in Roche Harbor, but the chances of you seeing them from your hotel window anywhere is quite limited.). As NWWanderer says, you'd better get on making reservations. It's late!

Roche Harbor would be my first choice for a family if you can get in, especially the new vacation rental homes, which are gorgeous.

I'm a little skeptical of 90% success rate through September though...that seems really high to me.

You definitely want a boat tour specifically organized for trying to view the whales. Even then they can't really guarantee you'll see them.

I think Roche Harbor is a very nice idea as far as a place to stay.

When the whale watch companies list the percentage of whale sightings per trip, there is no guarantee you will see a whale or if you do it might only be "sleeping" on the surface. We were very fortunate to see the whales (numerous) swimming, "spy hopping" and leaping. Be very alert for them so you don't miss the only sighting.

We went to the San Juan Islands several years ago in late August. I believe we took our boat trip out of Friday Harbor. We saw 2 pods of Orcas. It was phenominal!

We were traveling with my then 7 year old son. I found a B&B that had a separate cabin, as I did not want to be in a typical B&B setting with my very active child. (I'm sorry I can not remember the name but it was a nice place, run by a friendly couple. I found it on the internet 6 years ago.)

While we were on the boat my mother toured the Pelindaba Lavendar Farm which she really enjoyed. I still order lotion from them.

We've been on two orca watching cruises ~ one out of Snug Harbor on San Juan Island and one out of Deer Harbor on Orcas Island. Saw orcas the second time, it was incredible! The first trip was amazing too, even though we didn't see any. We saw so much other wildlife it was definitely worth it. Even saw porpoises. Here is a link to a sight that records recent sightings:
http://www.orcanetwork.org/sightings/map.html

I second everything that has been said. A boat trip is your best bet. The different companies really do network & communicate with each other about where the orcas are. But like I said above, even if you don't see any, the trip is still worthwile. The San Juans are gorgeous.

Serendipity42

I want to add this postscript to my note ~ I've heard that when the whale watching companies guarantee X % rate in seeing whales, they don't always mean orcas. There are other whales in the Puget Sound and they could mean any of these.

Serendipity42

Thanks for all the input guys. I was able to get reservations at the Roche Harbor. Next question is getting to there from Seattle. The person at roche told me to take the float plane as the line at the ferry is very long. We will be travelling there on a wed so maybe it wont be as busy. Anyway any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks

Well if you can afford the float plane, that's a GREAT way to get to the islands.

The float plane is great but unless you want to rely on the island shuttle, you'll need to rent a car on the island.

If you do decide to drive, generally midweek you can get to the ferry terminal in Anacortes 60-90 minutes ahead of time and be ok, which I don't think is too bad (the wait can be 2-3 hours on the weekends).

Thanks NWW, i think we will go ahead and drive as my wife isn't thrilled about our 11 mo old on a float plane. Go figure. Anyway thanks for the info and we booked a whale cruise already so i'll post a report with hopefully some good pics when we get back. thanks again. Oh 1 more question. if we want to catch the 8:45 or 11:05 ferry, what time do we need to leave seattle on a wed. we will be staying at the hotel 1000. thanks

BC

Here's the Washington State Ferry Systems webpage on getting to Anacortes and taking the ferry:

http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/ferries/info...?terminal_id=1

It's about 85 miles from Seattle to the ferry, and at rush hour it is quite busy between Seattle and Everett (though you will be going against the major flow).

So, say you want to be there by 9:45 AM. That would put you in rush hour leaving Seattle. 7:45 would be safe, I think.

Of course, if you go for the 8:45, you miss rush hour, but you have to get up very early - get there by 7:30 AM, so leave by 6 AM?

Just my guesses. Anyone else?

I doubt that anything I say will change your wife's mind, bigcountry, but I can assure you (and her) that an 11-month-old will fall asleep almost instantaneously on the float plane trip. I learned that the quickest way to quiet cranky kids of any age was to get above 2000 feet.

We were staying at a friends' place on the NE tip of San Juan Island a couple weeks ago. It was almost a daily occurrence to see whale watching boats racing by, obviously headed to a reported sighting.

We were lucky enough to see them, without even taking a "tour". We were on a ferry between Friday Harbor and Sidney when it happened upon 2 pods (which were almost surrounded by whale watchers). The ferry pilot killed the engines as all the passengers crowded the rails for about 15 minutes. The show ended with one pod diving under the ferry. Stupid me had left the camera in the car... Neat experience though.