The Whale Museum

05/26/2026

The Whale Museum is excited to be hosting one of a number of free film screenings as part of Orca Action Month!

On June 12th at 7:00 PM, we will be hosting a screening of two short films: "Elwha River Salmon Recovery" and "Kelp Lifeways" and a Q&A with producer Dr. Florian Graner from the Sound Water Stewards! This event is free for anyone to attend, though a $5 donation is encouraged!

05/26/2026

05/20/2026

The Whale Museum was proud to help staff the Be Whale Wise booth at the Anacortes Boat & Yacht show this weekend! Members of our Soundwatch team, along with our partners at the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, helped the booth reach over 200 boaters. This is just the first of many events we'll be attending this season in order to raise awareness for safe boating practices around whales!

Thank you to everyone who came out to the Anacortes Boat & Yacht Show this weekend! It was great to connect with so many boaters as we move closer to the summer boating season.

If you're a boater from Washington or British Columbia and you don't already have a whale warning flag, you can visit https://www.bewhalewise.org/get-a-whale-warning-flag/ to learn more about having one sent to you! The whale warning flag lets you know that whales are in the area, and it's a reminder for you to slow down and be prepared to adjust course. By flying a flag in the presence of whales you are helping to alert your fellow boaters prompting them to slow down and follow Be Whale Wise.

05/16/2026

Thank you to everyone who made it to The Whale Museum Response Program's volunteer training on San Juan Island last night! With over 400 miles of shoreline to cover within San Juan County, volunteers are what makes the scope of our work possible, we could not do this without you.

If you weren't able to attend, we have two more trainings coming up: one at the Orcas Island Public Library at 6:00pm on May 19th, and one at the Lopez Island Library at 5:30pm on June 4th. A special thank you to the WA Chapter of The Wildlife Society whose grant award is funding these trainings and tote bags, vests, and equipment we give to volunteers!

05/11/2026

The Whale Museum’s online store will be temporarily closing at 4:00 on May 11 as we transition to a new online inventory service. We plan to reopen soon and hope this interruption in our online shop is a brief one! Thank you for your patience!

05/09/2026

Join the search at The Whale Museum’s gift shop! After making a purchase, you will be given a clue to find 1 of the 6 hidden foxes in our gift shop. Once found, bring the fox the Salty Fox for a treat.

We are open 7 days a week, 10-4. The search will continue until all are found.

🦊🌿Rumor has it a few tiny foxes have gone missing around the island…

Clues are now tucked around the island at a handful of lovely local spots.
Choose one stop along the treasure trail, make a purchase, and your clue will be revealed. ✨

Somewhere nearby, a little fox hides in plain sight,
Bring it back to us for a cozy little delight. ☕️🐾

The hunt will continue until every fox has been discovered.✨

Slow mornings, hidden treasures, and a bit of island magic await.🥰✨

Happy Hunting!!🦊☕️🥐

05/06/2026

Need the perfect Mother’s Day gift? If you haven’t checked out our new gift shop, now may be the time! We have new gifts arriving daily, including this trucker hat (a staff favorite) from LOEA, new wine glasses and mugs from Salty Raven Glassware, and a jellyfish tote bag from Cognitive Surplus.

We’re open 7 days a week, 10:00-4:00!

05/02/2026

The Whale Museum will be closing at 2:00 tomorrow in anticipation of the Opening Day Boat Parade! The parade will start at 3:40, followed by a celebration and awards ceremony at the San Juan Island Yacht Club at 5:00.

Representatives from The Whale Museum will also be out at the Opening Day Boater Stewardship Fair tomorrow from 11:00 to 3:00 at Spring Street landing, so stop by and say hi!

05/02/2026

Thank you to everyone who attended The Whale Museum’s Open House last night! We had a great time meeting everybody and sharing more information about the museum and its programs!

A big thank you to volunteers Reed and Becky Miller, who generously donated their time and prepared a beautiful spread of food for the event.