Whale Watch – Friday Harbor, WA

It’s easy for Friday Harbor to steal your heart away. Located on San Juan Island, it’s the quintessential Pacific Northwest retreat, complete with whales, bald eagles, lighthouses, and amazing sunsets. I traveled here with two friends for a quick overnight getaway. Friday Harbor is a well-known place to spot Killer Whales.

Two distinct populations of Killer Whale, Southern Residents, and Transients, can be seen at different times of the year (especially in the summer months). Southern Residents (SRKW) feed exclusively on Chinook salmon and are native to the waters off of Washington and British Columbia, the Salish Sea. Three pods, J, K, and L, make up the SRKWs. Transients feed on marine mammals and occasionally visit the Salish Sea.

The SRKWs are protected under the Endangered Species Act of 2005. Their population was decimated by the captive whaling industry in the 1960s and is currently threatened by a lack of Chinook salmon and increasing levels of pollution and vessel traffic in the Salish Sea. One driver of increased vessel traffic is whale watching boats. The whale watching industry is a hotly debated topic within the scientific community. Whale watching vessels can be seen following the whales almost all day long. Many scientists agree this impairs their ability to hear, making it harder to communicate and find prey. The SRKW population is a near all-time low of 75.

While I enjoyed the whale watch, land-based whale watching is a less intrusive way to view these amazing animals. Fortunately, San Juan Island offers some of the best land-based whale watching on the planet. Lime Kiln Point State Park, on the west side of San Juan Island, is my favorite place to look for whales. Seeing whales from shore is a special experience. It requires so many probabilities to work in your favor. You and the whales need to be in the right place at the right time. See this link for more information on Lime Kiln: https://parks.state.wa.us/540/Lime-Kiln-Point