Olympic Tour Co. invites guests to experience the natural beauty of Port Townsend, Admiralty Inlet, and the Olympic Peninsula from the water. Their welcoming team offers wildlife cruises aboard a catamaran, guided kayak adventures...
There are whale watching trips and there are WHALE WATCHING TRIPS. This is the one in caps. There were ten of us not including the crew. The naturalist was Kat. Wow, did the ten of us luck out? Instead of being jammed into a boat as we saw on the others around us, we were a small group of people who could ask loads of questions and get great answers. And Kat is not only knowledgeable but incredibly kind. She saw me keeping a hand on my baseball cap (what was I thinking going on a boat with a hat that couldn’t be tied!) and offered me a knit cap to put over it so I had both hands free. And then there was the cherry on the top acts of kindness. She saw a fish jumping when we started and jokingly said anyone who got a photo of a jumping fish would get a great prize. The little boy on the trip began begging his mother to let him use her phone so he could get a photo and win the prize. The back and forth went on for a while until the poor besieged mom said, also jokingly, maybe he could get a prize for all the fish he caught. He persuaded his mom to pull up a photo of him and his fish and showed it to Kat. She gave him the prize, a lovely photo book of different sea wildlife. He was overjoyed and Kat earned my nonexistent kindness of the year award. Oh, and then the purpose of the trip-whales. The captain did a wonderful job of helping us see all the wildlife yet keeping the necessary distance to keep the animals safe. And wildlife. Major score. Sunbathing seals, cormorants, sea gulls, sun basking on a bell buoy sea lions, pelicans and a pod of orcas hunting said seals. The weather was incredible and the views beyond description. If you are wanting to take a whale watch, find the Olympic Tours site and sign up. They also conduct kayak tours and rent kayaks at both Fort Worden and Fort Flagler in the Port Townsend area.
Mary Chesney
August 2, 2026
There are whale watching trips and there are WHALE WATCHING TRIPS. This is the one in caps. There were ten of us not including the crew. The naturalist was Kat. Wow, did the ten of us luck out? Instead of being jammed into a boat as we saw on the others around us, we were a small group of people who could ask loads of questions and get great answers. And Kat is not only knowledgeable but incredibly kind. She saw me keeping a hand on my baseball cap (what was I thinking going on a boat with a hat that couldn’t be tied!) and offered me a knit cap to put over it so I had both hands free. And then there was the cherry on the top acts of kindness. She saw a fish jumping when we started and jokingly said anyone who got a photo of a jumping fish would get a great prize. The little boy on the trip began begging his mother to let him use her phone so he could get a photo and win the prize. The back and forth went on for a while until the poor besieged mom said, also jokingly, maybe he could get a prize for all the fish he caught. He persuaded his mom to pull up a photo of him and his fish and showed it to Kat. She gave him the prize, a lovely photo book of different sea wildlife. He was overjoyed and Kat earned my nonexistent kindness of the year award. Oh, and then the purpose of the trip-whales. The captain did a wonderful job of helping us see all the wildlife yet keeping the necessary distance to keep the animals safe. And wildlife. Major score. Sunbathing seals, cormorants, sea gulls, sun basking on a bell buoy sea lions, pelicans and a pod of orcas hunting said seals. The weather was incredible and the views beyond description. If you are wanting to take a whale watch, find the Olympic Tours site and sign up. They also conduct kayak tours and rent kayaks at both Fort Worden and Fort Flagler in the Port Townsend area.
Mary Chesney
August 2, 2026