Whale Watching at San Juan Islands

It was 15 years ago when I first visited the Seattle area and went on a whale watching tour, so we decided that it was something we’d like to do together, so we drove up to the town of Anacortes (about an hour and 1/2 or so from Seattle) to catch the ferry over to Friday Harbor in the San Juan Islands.

The trip over took an hour and was a leisurely and peaceful trip by water. It’s a pretty little harbor town too, very picturesque. Lots of boats at the marina. Lovely day to enjoy the water. This sailboat was right by the ferry when we came in.

And here’s one spot to check in for whale watching.  We got ice cream here when we came back. While waiting, I couldn’t resist taking a pic of these wild poppies that were growing nearby. And a look back at the ferry that brought us over.  This one was huge and holds a ton of cars. The little town was really cute. This is the boat we went out on, along with about 25 others. The Odyssey

We boated off and it took us about an hour and 1/2 to reach the area where the whales were feeding.  These are the killer or Orca whales, like you see at Seaworld.  It’s fun to see them in their natural habitat. Pretty time on the water out there.

The San Juan Islands are rugged, but pretty in a rustic way.

Old lighthouse on the hill. And finally we arrived at our destination and spent about 30 minutes watching several whales zip around.  We were lucky enough to see a few of them jump out of the water.  We weren’t real close to them, but close enough that I got a few good shots.

This is my best one.  Aren’t they pretty??

Now, just for fun, here’s a great shot I got 15 years ago on my first whale watching trip to the NW. This was taken out of Victoria, Canada and it was indeed this close to me.  We were in a small boat and it came up right beside me and I was lucky enough to get this shot.

Incredible, huh?!  This was before digital cameras, so I scanned my original photo.

And one more.  We looked for their fins skimming across the water and it was really fun to see. After the Orca show was over, we headed back to the harbor.  That was a very fun day too.  A full day of fun.  We found another breakfast place called Roxy’s in the Fremont district of Seattle and ate breakfast there our last day there.  Very good too!

So, that’s a recap of our week in Seattle. I sure hope you all enjoyed the pics as much as I did.  I am so proud of all the great pics I got on this trip and will treasure the memories we made. And I really hope that those of you who live in the Northwest and Seattle in particular, will feel very proud of your state.

You definitely should be proud!

I’ll get back to some decorating posts again soon, I promise.  There’s just been a lot of other things to distract me right now. 🙂

I hope you all have a wonderful 4th of July weekend.  We are going out to one of our favorite outdoor spots tonight for a concert under the stars at Morgan Creek Winery, along with a picnic and fireworks at dark.  The perfect way to celebrate for us!