Whether you’re traveling to Seattle or Olympic National Park, if you’re in Washington, you should definitely consider taking a Whale Watching daytrip out of Port Townsend. This is a great family friendly activity and a great way to see sea life up close. Port Townsend is a really cute coastal town with a distinctive New England feel. Originally this point of land was where they intended to settle Seattle, but too many waterways prevented the city from being established there.
There are several companies that take off from Port Townsend, which is about 2 hours north of Seattle, but I think Puget Sound Express is the best. They are a small, family owned business, but they have spent years following the J-pod of Orcas, so they know exactly where to go for the best viewing. Plus their knowledge about Orcas was top notch.
While waiting for the tour to depart I was able to enjoy a delicious cup of coffee at Velocity in the Northwest Maritime Center and watch sailors in the bay. I also visited a shop where craftsmen were busy building a wooden boat by hand in the traditions of years ago. It was the perfect stop before my tour began.
Once I boarded the whale watch boat I was treated to an amazing 3 hour nature show. The only thing missing was the narration by David Attenborough, although I had a fantastic tour guide named Sarah, whose family had been running the business for three generations.
Sarah explained that we were following the J-Pod of Orcas, which was comprised of 24 local Orcas, complete with two month-old babies. The babies brought the whole scene to life with non-stop breaches which seemed to get the older siblings and adults to play along. Designated, J57 and J58 the babies were born in September 2020.
For three hours we were treated to a show that only nature could provide as the whales covered some serious distance searching for their favorite snack – salmon. This pod’s oldest member is J16 believed to be 49 years old. But some of these whales live to be 100 or more years old.
I saw so many breaches that I was actually able to predict a breach and have my camera ready for the picture. I decided that day to invest in some better telephoto lenses in case I am lucky enough to see this action again. This is an experience that SeaWorld can not rival and probably costs less to do if your visiting! As a bonus, our boat was treated to many Bald Eagle sightings and Sea lions hunting salmon. A perfect way to experience nature on it’s own terms and great for the whole family.
This is must do and early October turned out to be one of the best times to witness these majestic mammals.
