Island Adventures Whale Watching Tour

You MUST take your family on a whale-watching excursion with Island Adventures Whale Watching Tours while on the Olympic Peninsula. It is hands down one of my most favorite things we have done as a family since moving to the area.

Visit Island Adventures website to reserve your Whale Watching Tour. Like right now I am not kidding. You will thank yourself later, I promise. Island Adventures Whale Watching Tours has a 96% success rate of whale sightings. Whether you want to see orcas, humpbacks, minke, or grey whales this is your tour!

1. Choose your departure location. Obviously, we chose Port Angeles but there are two other options: Everett or Anacortes.
2. Select the month. A calendar pops up with all the times and dates available for your chosen location and month, it even shows how full the tour is at that point. Typically you can choose between two sailings a day: one in the AM, 9:30 or 10:00, and one in the PM, 3:30 or 4:00.
3. Click on the perfect date and complete your purchase.
4. You are set to whale watch. Get excited!!

Some things to know before you go:

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• Dress in layers. You never know what the weather is going to do in the Pacific Northwest, out on the water is even more of a gamble. We wore pants, long sleeve shirts and packed windbreakers + blankets. There were times I would have been comfortable in short sleeves or shorts, but I don’t like to be cold so I was pleased with our attire.
• Bring a credit or debit card. The boat is a cash-free vessel. So be sure to have a debit/credit card to purchase lunch, hot cocoa, coffee, or a little treat. Spotting whales and other marine wildlife is serious business and you are going to need to eat something!
• FREE use of binoculars onboard. If you have a pair of binoculars at home feel free to bring them, but if you forget them or don’t have a pair, no worries. Island Adventure has some for you to use and you will want them for spotting.
• Bring your camera or don’t! The naturalist onboard has an amazing camera and takes dynamic pictures of all wildlife sightings along the tour. The pictures are available for purchase in the gift store afterward. So if you want to just enjoy and not worry about capturing the perfect shot, you definitely can.
• As a precaution, bring Dramamine. I get motion sickness just thinking about windy roads or rocky boat rides. Worried about how I would do out at sea I preemptively took medicine as to avoid any possible sickness. I packed some for the kiddos too. Not once did the little ones mention sick tummies and I felt fine the entire trip, aside from being in the restroom where there are clearly no windows to see outside. Better to be safe than sorry and have some motion sickness medication handy so you can focus on spotting wildlife and enjoy the trip.
• Here is the website for exact check-in details and a list of their recommendations to prep for your trip.

Within 30 minutes of being on the water, our Captain spotted the first whale of the day. It was a humpback about a mile away. The initial thrill and awe of seeing it so clearly while still so far away is something indescribable. The silhouette of its tail as it dove down into the water was breathtaking. We made our way over to get a closer look. The naturalist took a picture and was able to use that picture to determine the whale we were watching was Zeppelin. Isn’t that amazing?

Soon another humpback joined the party. We spent about 45 minutes enjoying their presence. As additional vessels joined the viewing party, the Captain made the decision that it was time to move on to find more whales. Perhaps some orcas? I am a huge Free Willy fan so my fingers were crossed that I would be able to see an orca in the wild. We grabbed some lunch during the downtime, enjoying some Ivan’s clam chowder and classic hot dogs. While eating, the crew announced we were headed to a spot where transient orcas had been spotted by another whale-watching vessel. Jackpot!

The pod of Orcas stayed a bit further away than the humpbacks. We were able to watch them as they moved along the cliffside hunting and feeding, possibly on seals! This was truly a bucket list moment.

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The tour is about 4 hours, which before taking to the water I have to admit I was a bit worried about how the kids were going to do. Alas, four hours flew by and I was shocked when I noticed it was almost 2 o’clock. As we headed back to Port Angeles we sailed through Race Rocks where there were perfect photo ops of a lighthouse alongside sea lions, seals, and a resident sea otter.

Other than the obvious stars of the shows, the whales, the crew onboard made this tour even more memorable and amazing. They were happy to answer questions, filled us in with fun facts, and were just genuinely happy to be at work. We thank them sincerely for being part of this experience for our family. The next people that come to visit us in Port Angeles, better be ready to go whale watching. It is addicting and I am already raring to go again.

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Looking for more family-friendly activities while visiting the Olympic Peninsula? Check out our favorites here.