Welcome the Whales Festival

Each April, as gray whales make their northward migration from Baja California to Arctic feeding grounds, a small but regular group of individuals peels off the main migration and spends weeks or months feeding in Puget Sound. These are "the Sounders" — a loose assemblage of gray whales that have made Puget Sound a reliable foraging stopover. Orca Network's Welcome the Whales Festival in Langley celebrates their return and raises awareness of the Salish Sea's marine ecosystem. The festival includes a community parade through Langley's small historic downtown, a waterside welcoming ceremony at the Langley marina, and a naturalist-led whale-watching cruise from Clinton, on the south end of Whidbey Island.

Gray whales in Puget Sound feed by rolling on their sides in shallow muddy bays and sucking amphipods, ghost shrimp, and small crustaceans from the sediment. The behavior — highly visible surface feeding in protected waters very close to shore — makes Puget Sound gray whales among the most accessible large whale watching opportunities anywhere in North America. Prime viewing locations include Saratoga Passage, Possession Sound, and the shallow bays of Penn Cove and Holmes Harbor on Whidbey Island. The whales are often visible from shore with binoculars, and from kayaks at safe distances.

Orca Network, a nonprofit dedicated to Southern Resident orca protection and Salish Sea awareness, organizes the festival with a deliberately modest and community-centered approach. The parade and ceremony are open to all without charge. The whale-watching cruise is typically offered at subsidized rates with proceeds supporting Orca Network's monitoring and outreach programs.

The parade begins in Langley's small downtown on Saturday morning, featuring handmade whale puppets, local music, children's school groups, and community floats. It terminates at the waterfront, where a welcoming ceremony — informed by Indigenous Coast Salish traditions of honoring the return of keystone species — marks the official welcome of the whales back to Puget Sound. Naturalists present brief talks about gray whale ecology, migration, and the threats they face including vessel strikes and entanglement.

The whale-watching cruise departs from the Clinton ferry dock on the south end of Whidbey Island and is led by Orca Network naturalists who provide narration on gray whale behavior, feeding ecology, and the broader Salish Sea ecosystem. The cruise is a working wildlife watch — naturalists use reports from the Orca Network sighting network to navigate toward areas of current whale activity. Binoculars are recommended but views are often close enough to require no optics. Check the Orca Network website for current cruise scheduling and booking as these details change annually.