Visiting Orcas Islands in July
 

Hi. We are going to the Orcas Island in July (first time) for 3 nights and would greatly appreciate some advice. We will be coming from Boston. We will be staying at the Rosario resort. We will be taking the ferry from Anacortes. Any suggestions for what to do and where to eat? Also, would you recommend taking the ferry over to Friday Harbor for a day or would that take up too much time? We love to hike, enjoy beautiful scenery and love local good cuisine. Thanks, W

Here is reliable information about Orcas Island:http://orcasislandchamber.com/20182019Guide.pdf

San Juan Island is popular. It has bus service, too. However it may be too much to include on a three-night trip.

We enjoyed hiking at Turtleback Mountain https://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/turtleback-mountain and Moran State Park https://parks.state.wa.us/547/Moran Look for piebald deer on the island. We stayed on both Orcas and SJI and preferred Orcas but SJI is worth a visit too. If you make it over to SJI, get outside of Friday Harbor and see the rest of the island as well.

We enjoyed our meal at Roses Bakery Cafe, pastries from Brown Bear Baking and chocolates from Kathryn Taylor in Eastsound. We were there in off season so some places we would've liked to have tried weren't open. Overall we found the food on Orcas better than SJI.

Sounds great. Thank you. I have hear alot about Brown Bear Baking and will make sure we check it out.

do you think heading over to San Juan island is trying to do too much when we only have 3 nights?

Also, if anybody has any other restaurant recommendations for dinner it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks again, W

You can decide about going to San Juan Island while you are Orcas. Walk-ons don't need ferry reservations. Friday Harbor and Roche Harbor are both interesting. Lunch at Roche Harbor would be the thing to do: San Juan Transit - Transportation in the San Juan Islands

I would definitely take a day trip to San Juan Island, and I'd take the car so that you can visit both Roche Harbor and Lime Kiln State Park on the west side of the island, where frequently one can see orcas very close to shore.


You could also visit both American and British camps and learn about the Pig War.

Map showing the various locations - https://goo.gl/maps/YFrfXiqwv2s

No reservations are taken for interisland travel. I like Gardyloo's itinerary if you go.

I'm going to be the outlier on answering this question. If you have three nights on Orcas, that is just two full days. If it was me - and it isn't - I'd want to spend that time on Orcas. Visiting San Juan Island would take up most of one of your days there. And I've spent way to much of my life waiting for ferries. As noted above, you cannot make reservations for interisland ferry travel.

We just did a trip to Friday Harbor and loved San Juan Island. There's quite a bit to do there if you decide to do the day trip over.

Some of the things we enjoyed were visiting the English and American Camps, going to Lime Kiln Park, driving to Roche Harbor for lunch, going to the Pelindaba Lavender Farm, visiting Bakery San Juan, going whale watching with Maya's Legacy, and eating at Downrigger's.

Thanks again. I agree that we will play the trip to San Juan island by ear. If time doesn't permit, we will just make it another visit.

In terms of restaurants, I am hearing alot about the bakery so that will be a must.

I'm also hearing that the Mansion at Rosario, The Inn at Ship Bay, The New Leaf Cafe, and the Island Brewery would be wise choices.

Agree?