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    Outer Island Expeditions

    4.5 (183 reviews)
    Open 9:00 am - 5:00 pm
    Updated 2 months ago

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    Crystal M.

    I acknowledge we got so lucky for our day trip! We arrived at 9:30 for an easy check in. Lots of parking. We were a huge group. They moved us along quick and easily. We started our day going through deception pass, down and around to south Whidbey Island where we were graced by the presence of T99 pod. Seasonal visitors who hunt seals. And they were actively hunting! They started in the deeps and quickly moved towards shore. Our crew had marine biologists on board who dictated the orca behavior to advice they are hunting a seal. The largest Barakat was easy to spy as he breached the water to body slam the seal. Ultimately they succeeded as a team. Epic trip. The crew was very knowledgeable. Captain had jokes, hating on our Seahawks..anyway. Overall , great boat, day trip, had a wonderful day.

    Katie N.

    I had the pleasure of doing a whale watching tour with captain Rika and naturalist Sean. You can tell they both are passionate about their work. They took their time explaining the nature and wildlife we would see. On our tour we had the opportunity to see 3 different pods of orcas. Amazing! I was not the one who scheduled the trip/tour, but they were responsive to my coworker that scheduled it.

    Babette C.

    We had a daytrip to Anacortes because my SIL and niece wanted to go whale watching. his being whale season, I figured we'd see something. I'd been on whale watching trips before in SoCal and we saw tons of dolphins and seals, so I had a little more hope this time and my hope was not frustrated.Most of the trip we saw almost nothing; a fin here, a seal there, but nothing. Apparently all the boats work together and let each other know where they are seeing them and when they find a pod, they all rush over, shut their engines, and let the whales do their thing. We caught up with a pod of maybe 8 of them and those whales got close to a lot of the other boats, but kept their distance from us. It's luck of the draw, but we did get some cool video of the whales coming out of the water. They weren't breaching or anything, but you could clearly see them, even if it was from afar. It was a good day and I'm glad we did this.

    They know each and every orca we saw!
    Jordan O.

    6/5 My partner has been wanting to go whale watching since I met her. I finally decided to make it happen and looked into outer island expeditions since we would be up near Anacortes at the time. I was surprised to find that Groupon was still a thing and that they offered a Groupon for their whale tours! (Although after "fees" it really only saves you about $10 per ticket) THAT being said, so worth it! We were off to a bad start, arrived and it was foggy and a little rainy. After signing releases we got separated into 2 lines. One of the works told my partner and I to hang back and wait for the second boat because it served alcohol and was better over all (thanks bro!) When we got out the captain told was transparent and said that they hadn't seen any orcas the past few days but he was dedicated to finding them today. We made the trek south, where we finally broke out of the fog and rain to clear skies. The entire time employees are making jokes and providing a ton of information, it was really interactive. We finally got as low as EVERETT when we saw them! 2 pods of orcas! At least 11 of them in total, there was even a little baby! It was truly an experience, my partner was brought to tears. Started off worried but ended perfectly, would absolutely recommend!

    No Boating etiquette at all !  "Your Wake defines you" and these guys are all about the money
    Randy M.

    I would like to add that the captains of their whale watching boats have no boating etiquette whatsoever. They do not slow down or care how close they go to kayaks on the water that happened to be in their path. I've heard other horrible stories about them, but I won't repeat them.

    Line

    Avoid if you're visiting from out of town. We were visiting Washington from out of state and booked a whale watching tour for 10:30 AM. Unfortunately, we had a hectic morning checking out of our hotel and called ahead to let them know we were running about 30 minutes behind. That's when we learned that check-in is actually at 10:00 AM, not 10:30 AM, and we were told the boat might leave without us. We were encouraged to come anyway "just in case." We arrived at 10:50 AM and were told the boat had already left. They would not offer a refund -- instead, their policy is to "resell" your tickets and give you vouchers, which doesn't help when you're traveling and won't be back to use them. Trying to make the best of the day, we went to a nearby beach. Around noon, they called to say they had space for the 3:00 PM tour if we were still in town. We stayed, checked in, and then were told Groupon had contacted them about our refund request -- they wanted a screenshot showing we had closed the claim before moving forward. After waiting, we got a call at 3:30 PM saying there were only 3 seats left for the tour, but we have 4 people in our family. We ended up waiting around all day for nothing, did not receive the service we paid for, and this completely ruined my husband's birthday (this tour was meant to be his gift) as well as disappointing our 7-year-old who had been so excited. I understand things happen, but the lack of flexibility, poor communication, and having us wait hours just to be turned away again was extremely frustrating. We left with no experience, no refund, and a wasted day of our trip.

    Humpback whale

    Great crew, Matt, Trevor, Brook, Bruno, and Ethan. We saw a humpback whale, sea lion, sea otter, and 2 orcas. Very knowledgeable about sea life. Great time!

    Saw 2 pods of whales, a bald  eagle and some seals
    Patrick M.

    Jim Sam Isabelle Hannah Great, great great service The staff were very knowledgeable and gave us the history of the whale watching experience

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    9 months ago

    Went whale watching and saw three pods. Amazing! The captain had a great sense of humor. So much fun!!!

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    5 months ago

    Great outfit for whale watching! I will be back and will be recommending Outer Island.

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    1 year ago

    Brock and Kate are great!! Highlight of our visit! Planning to come back next year! Great information. Kids loved it. Thank you!

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    Page 1 of 5

    Ask the Community - Outer Island Expeditions

    Does the boat have a bathroom?

    Yes it does. Very small and only one.

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    Review Highlights - Outer Island Expeditions

    My boyfriend and I were on the Orca Express with Captain Drew, Brittney, and Delaney for the whale watching excursion.

    Mentioned in 43 reviews

    Read more highlights

    Spirit Of Orca Whale and Wildlife Tours - We started to see the Orcas and many more appeared

    Spirit Of Orca Whale and Wildlife Tours

    (73 reviews)

    Oh.My.Gosh!!! If you are looking for a personalized and informative tour of both whales and local…read morewildlife, THIS is the one to book. We were so fortunate to be with Ken and his fiancee Laurel when we witnessed two whale pods meet up and greet each other. The interaction was so fun to watch but even more amazing, both pods started swimming towards our boat! Ken was quick to get up on the bow of the boat to get some incredible pictures for us. Couldn't have asked for a better experience. On the way in and out, both Ken and Laurel pointed out different local wildlife and educated us on different species of birds, whales, seals, etc in the area. They are both very knowledgeable and amazing hosts. You couldn't ask for more. Be sure to book your own incredible trip with them!

    A wonderful wildlife tour and notably different than experiencing the Sea, wildlife and Orcas from…read morea crowded large boat. We were also impressed with the Captain's professionalism and mariner expertise overall. We always felt safe and also appreciated a willingness to extend our trip time at no cost to ensure we found the Orca pods. The water was choppy on our day out, so we experienced the awesomeness of the Salish Sea as well as her beauty! Our two grandsons, age 12 and 14, really had fun. For all of us, the highlight of the trip was definitely seeing and hanging out with the two incredible Orca pods. It was memorable without compare. I was especially pleased that I was able to take some great video of the Orcas and wonderful photos of my grandchildren.

    Outer Island Expeditions - fishing - Updated May 2026

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