Orcas Island Whale Watching

Overview

Small group whale watching tours on some of the fastest boats in the region with GUARANTEED WHALES! See whales with us or come again for FREE.

City: San Juan Islands

Mon 23 Dec

Other dates

You can choose the date already on the booking website

Starting at $109.00

Make a reservation

Mon 23 Dec

Starting at $109.00

Make a reservation

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What's Included

3-4 hour tour

Professional guide

High Speed Vessels

8.1% Washington State sales tax and applicable fees. The taxes and fees are required by the governing authority and not within local supplier's control

Additional Info

Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
Service animals allowed
Suitable for all physical fitness levels
Children must be accompanied by an adult
This tour departs from Orcas Island. The island can only be reached by the Washington State Ferry System. If your party is not already on island we recommend our Anacortes departure location.
Check in begins 30 minutes prior to departure.
Face masks required for travellers in public areas
Face masks required for guides in public areas
Hand sanitiser available to travellers and staff
Social distancing enforced throughout experience
Regularly sanitised high-traffic areas
Gear/equipment sanitised between use
Transportation vehicles regularly sanitised
Guides required to regularly wash hands
Regular temperature checks for staff
Contactless payments for gratuities and add-ons
We have limited the passenger loading to 50% of seat capacity and increased our sanitation measures.

Cancellation Policy

All sales are final. No refund is available for cancellations.

Traveler Photos

Reviews (297)

mok614

Sep 2022

We had booked our trip a few days prior & were disappointed to wake to a rainy chilly day, but the Orcas, sealing, dolphins, etc that we saw seemed to enjoy it! The pods of whales were very frisky & we were able to watch them hunt & apparently feed off the kill, although we weren't close enough for it to be offensive. Good navigating & interesting information shared with us by Chaz, who was friendly. My Only complaint concerns the Seating on the Triton tour boat. We had booked ahead as Seniors & my mobility issues were very obvious. There were 2 vessels going out for that cruise, the larger of the 2 looked to be most comfortable but we were assigned to Triton, the smaller boat. No special boarding for passengers with disabilities was offered, so despite our heading towards the boarding gate early we were one of the last to get aboard. There were only 4 rows of bus type seats on an elevated platform, facing the bow. These were big enough for 2 adults. The only other seating was a Bench. This ran lengthwise with the boat & had no armrests, etc to hold onto & were not elevated to a height that permitted views. All of the other younger passengers had taken the Bus type seats. When the boat was moving I had trouble staying in my seat & had to use my cane to brace myself on the bus seat across the aisle to keep from sliding down. It made for a very unpleasant ride with no ability to see anything at all. I feel that some Attention to seating elderly or disabled passengers First on Suitable seats should be addressed by the management if the trio is advertised as being 'Suitable for almost everyone' not in a wheelchair. Had that been the case I would have given this Tour 5 stars....

B6123CFmichaelf

Sep 2022

Bo (spl?) was the most unprofessional human I have ever attempted to do business with. I booked tickets for my family to go whale watching (first time for all of my family members except myself), and shortly after my brother-in-law tested positive for COVID. Out of an abundance of caution we called to cancelled all of our tickets (an hour after booking them), in case any one of us were also potentially positive or exposed, even though we were very excited to go. Rather than refund our tickets and thank us for not exposing crew and other passengers, Bo choose to be rude, passive aggressive, condescending, and incredibly unprofessional. To cap it off, he said not only would he not refund our tickets, he would also call the police if any member of our party attempted to come onto their property and attend the trip or speak to them, since I told them a family member had tested positive. I felt like I was speaking with an arrogant teenager rather than a representative of a company, when attempting to have a civil conversation about options. In the end I have no refund at this point, even though his site showed that he was able to sell all available tickets in full for the day/time I had booked. So he essentially got paid for 5 additional tickets, on top of those for a full boat. I would have loved to work something out with this business or feel appreciated that I made a decision to keep people safe (including their staff), but rather I was left feeling very disappointed, offended, and taken advantage of by a company I was supporting. What a shame, I expected better from a place I visit regularly. It’s important that O share this with other potential customers however, so people can understand just how poorly Bo handled this experience and how terrible he made me feel, to hopefully prevent similar circumstances for their trip. I hope this doesn’t happen to anyone else however. And I hope Bo can read this and take an honest look at his behavior and actions, and choose to do better in the future, for the sake of the company (Outer Island Excursions) and their customers.

Response from Host

Sep 2022

This passenger Michael Feagan was a very unique experience. This individual booked six tickets on a holiday weekend and then two hours later phoned to say his group was exposed to COVID-19. We informed him that we would attempt to resell their tickets to other passengers in order to offer them a refund, or reschedule them for a future date. They responded with frustration and anger and demanded a refund. We explained that that was not possible and apologized while trying to be empathetic to their situation. We did successfully resell two of their tickets and issued a full refund for those tickets! We extended the offer once again to reschedule the other four tickets. This offer was met with a threat to show up to our office and potentially expose the rest of our passengers to COVID to demand boarding our boat. Additionally in initial calls the party claimed all members had been exposed. In subsequent calls other individuals claimed this information was incorrect. We felt that more than likely that this group had potentially been exposed at all was fabricated. We believe that there was a strong likelihood that they fabricated this story in order to compel a refund and were then unhappy with our refund policy. In either instance this behavior makes it very difficult to help you. After repeated threats of coming on our property we were compelled to call the authorities to protect the rest of our passengers and not risk a mass exposure to COVID. Unfortunately our ability to reschedule the remaining tickets for this individual has been eliminated due to their abusive and threatening behavior. Out of respect and concern for our staff and our passengers, Michael Feagan has been banned from all future excursions with our company. We understand that COVID makes all situations difficult and emotional but cannot accept behavior like this. We wish you the best in your future endeavors.

robertoG3169VB

Sep 2022

We saw an Orca pod, bald Eagle and harbor seals near orcas island. The pilot Phil and his assistant, Austin, were very professional.