Spirit of Orca Whale Watching, Wildlife, & Birding Tours — Attraction in Anacortes

Save yourself the time and research, book this tour!! I have never written a review before, but I feel it is absolutely necessary after our great experience with Spirit of Orca. This was the best tour we could’ve asked for.

After doing hours of research comparing the multiple whale watching tour companies in the area, we had decided on Spirit of Orca. I can say with 100% confidence that we made the right choice. Ken exceeded every expectation - from accommodating our itinerary changes due to canceled flights, to finding every animal on our “wish list,” to taking professional-quality photos during our tour and sharing them with us for free - making this the highlight of our vacation.

Our experience with Spirit of Orca began when two of our flights to Seattle were canceled, resulting in us missing our original tour with Ken. We were resigned to the fact that we were not going to be able to go on a whale tour during our vacation and that we were going to lose the money we already paid to book it. Ken quickly eased our worries though. He was responsive and did everything he could to fit us in for another tour during our stay in Washington. Despite his boat being in the shop that week - plus the fact that he was otherwise fully booked until October - he made it happen. Ken bent over backwards to get his boat tour-ready as soon as it got out of the shop and, as a result, he was able to add an extra tour to his schedule to accommodate us. All this at no additional cost for us. I’d never before experienced this level of kindness and service. It was clear that Ken genuinely cares about his customers and their experience.

Our tour conveniently departed from Anacortes, so we didn’t need to take the ferry to Friday Harbor. Upon departure, Ken educated us on the area and its marine life. Through our conversation and questions, Ken deduced which animals we’d be most interested in seeing. Ken knew exactly where to find all of the animals we were hoping to see - orcas, porpoises, sea lions, seals, river otters, bald eagles, puffins, cormorants, and other marine birds. The tour exceeded all of our expectations. Ken made the experience even more special by doing things like shutting off his engine so we could hear the spray of the whales and maneuvering his boat as close to the animals as possible, while still maintaining respectful distances. We had five people in our group and we were never fighting each other for a view; we were all able to see everything and move around the boat freely. The small group had an intimate feel and provided us with a once in a lifetime experience.

Ken was overall the best captain we could’ve asked for. He was kind, caring, knowledgeable, and enjoyable to be around. We even heard other tour captains joking over the radio about how incredibly successful Ken had been at finding the whales in recent weeks. I cannot recommend Spirit of Orca enough. Trust me when I say you can book this tour with the peace of mind knowing that it is the best...

TL;DR- Fantastic experience that the entire family enjoyed!! Highly recommend Spirit of Orca!!

Helmed by CAPT Ken, his passion for orca-spotting was evident even before arriving in Anacortes. We had driven up early to make sure we were situated, and 90 minutes before our scheduled 2PM time, he called us asking if we could go early because he had just spotted a pod of orca and wanted to ensure we could see them. He made best speed, expertly navigating through some choppy water and within an hour, we had our first visual sighting of two orcas. He safely trolled near these two, which eventually led us to the rest of the pod that was at least 5 strong! For the next two hours, we stayed with them, getting incredible pictures and sightings.

CAPT Ken ensured we had the best experience possible, and his in-depth local knowledge of individual pods, their history, offspring, and the distinction between the Southern Resident "salmon eaters" and the other species of "mammal eater" orcas helped make the whole tour that much better. He focused on giving us the best experience possible. I will caveat this by saying even if we had not seen a single orca, his dedication and passion in finding these beautiful creatures would not have detracted from our experience. We came across a larger whale watching boat, and I can attest that the smaller group setting is the way to go. Had we been at the mercy of a multi-party charter, we would have certainly missed the front row seat/private viewing we had for 2+ hours.

These are wild animals, and despite best efforts, cannot always be predicted. The Whale Watching Fleet and CAPT Ken do their best, and for us, it paid off in the best way possible! If you've read this far, I can assure you this is the orca charter for you!

Note: photos by CAPT...

We originally booked this trip back in November, but a bomb cyclone forced us to reschedule (Ken was so accommodating). Fast forward to half a year later, and we finally got to go! I knew it would be a lovely trip, but my expectations were far exceeded! Our group consisted of four adults and two kids which is the max you can aboard since it's a small boat. Because it is a small boat, it's able to maneuver around things easily and get a little closer than a bigger boat could, plus everyone gets a front row seat. He took us to see harbor seals, sea lions, we saw porpoises, and most importantly, we saw orcas! We were all in complete awe of the pod of five we got to see diving and resurfacing. He stayed for a long time so we could get plenty of opportunities to see them. He cares about the wildlife, so we always stayed at a required distance to protect them (although we got lucky and on on one of the orcas dives, they resurfaced close to our boat!). Ken works closely with the other boats so that they're always in the loop of where to find them (and most importantly, communicate that information via channels to those who are qualified to be around them so that the wellbeing of the wildlife is always on the forefront). It's a responsible operation, and that was very important to us. Ken is very knowledgeable on the water (he used to operate a very large boat), he knows where wildlife hangs out and provided us with lots of fun facts along the way. He went above and beyond, including photographing everything we saw, and sharing the photos with us later that night. He even photographed our family waving at us from the shore as we were coming in :) It was a memorable experience and the highlight...