San Juan Islands

The San Juan Islands occupy a rain shadow between the Olympic Peninsula and Vancouver Island, giving them a notably drier and sunnier climate than the mainland. The Washington State Ferry from Anacortes connects to four islands year-round Lopez, Shaw, Orcas, and San Juan each with its own character. San Juan Island is the most visited and most accessible, with the ferry docking in Friday Harbor, a compact town with excellent seafood restaurants, an independent bookshop, and the San Juan Islands Museum of Art. Lime Kiln Point State Park on the island's west side is recognized as one of the best land-based orca viewing sites in the world; Southern Resident orcas and Bigg's killer whales regularly pass the point, especially in summer when Chinook salmon runs are strongest. Roche Harbor on the north end of the island preserves its 1880s lime kiln resort: white clapboard Hotel de Haro, the McMillin family mausoleum, and one of the finest small boat harbors in the Northwest. Orcas Island, named for its horseshoe shape rather than the whales, centers on Eastsound village and the summit of Mount Constitution (2,409 feet) in Moran State Park.