Emmett & Venus’ Guidebook

If you plan to walk the beach, we recommend bringing “water shoes” that have rubber soles so that you can comfortably walk over the initial rocky part of the beach at Birch Bay. Once you are past that, especially at low tide, there are miles and miles of sandy beach that you can enjoy.

Due to Canada having significantly higher gas prices, almost all of the gas stations in Washington that area near the Canada border charge much higher gas prices, where it is still cheaper for Canadians to fill up their tanks. Because of this, locals from Washington use gas stations further South, such as those along the freeway between Ferndale and Bellingham.

There are multiple reputable whale watching organizations that offer sightseeing charter boats out of either Bellingham, Anacortes, La Conner or the San Juan islands. They tend to book up in advance so advance reservations are recommended. Depending on the type of experience you want to have there are companies offering small fast boats to large 150+ capacity ships that serve hot meals onboard during your trip. A few top recommended ones are San Juan Cruises (Bellingham and La Conner), Blackfish Tours by Outer Islands Excursions (Anacortes) and Maya’s Legacy Whale Watching (San Juan Islands).