Everett is a city in Washington that is on the coast of Puget Sound, and thus there are not surprisingly whale watching cruises that depart from the city. However, despite the city’s prime positioning and relatively large size (with a population of about 100,000, it’s the seventh largest city in the state), the whale watching opportunities are fairly sparse. Basically, if you plan to go on a whale watching cruise that leaves from Everett, you need to know what the situation is, which is precisely what we explain below.
If you have ever heard of Everett at all, it was likely mentioned in connection with the massive Boeing assembly plant that is in the city. In fact, at 116.5 million cubic feet (3,300,000 square meters), it is the biggest building in the world by volume, and the plant employs two fifths of the Everett population. The city is located on the upper edge of the Seattle metropolitan area and overlooks Puget Sound and Whidbey Island. (Technically, most of the city overlooks Possession Sound, but this is part of Puget Sound. We mention this only because whale watching cruises are docked in what is specifically designated as Possession Sound.)
As we said above, the whale watching opportunities in Everett are limited, and in fact you can only find cruises dedicated to whale watching for a brief window every spring, from March 1st to May 8th. These cruises are offered by Island Adventures, and unlike many whale watching cruises from Washington, they aren’t focused on seeing killer whales, which are found among the San Juan Islands. Instead, they go after gray whales, which are migrating north during the spring from the warm coastal waters in the south. Many of these whales go to the feeding grounds in Puget Sound, including those found on the south end of Whidbey Island, which is right off the coast of Everett. There are so many gray whales in the area during this time that the company guarantees whale sightings. The cruises offered by Island Adventures last three hours and cost $69 for adults and $49 for children. However, if you book online and seven days in advance, and if you qualify for any discounts (military, senior, student, etc.), you can save up to $30. (You get $10 off for each discount you are able to claim.) Also, on every Wednesday, the prices are set at $39 for adults and $29 for children.
So, there are whale watching cruises that leave from Everett, and they are quite good (because of the success rate) and can be relatively inexpensive, but they are only offered for a little more than two months of the year. There are, however, ferries that leave from Everett to the San Juan Islands, and on these cruises whales are often spotted, but these aren’t dedicated whale watching cruises, and they are quite long because it takes about eight to nine hours to get from Everett to the islands and back again. Thus, you are limited to Island Adventures’ offerings if you want to take a proper whale watching cruise from Everett.
