A Q&A about our Orcas Island Trip

Earlier this week, I did a whole post about our Orcas Island trip itinerary.

Now, I’m answering all the questions that came in when I shared about our trip on Instagram!

Where is Orcas Island?
It’s off the Washington coast and it’s part of the San Juan Islands!

Why did you choose this location?
Bart’s family did a reunion there in 2005 and for the last two decades, everyone has been raving about how it was the best trip they ever did. Since then, I married into the family and so did another sister-in-law and the family went from 6 grandkids to 23 grandkids, so many family members had not been on this trip!

How did you know about Orcas Island?
A family in our neighborhood used to live in Washington and went to Orcas Island every year. Once they moved to Utah, they continued to go back each year. They told another family in our neighborhood about Orcas Island and that family did a reunion there and loved it and gushed about it to my in-laws who decided to do one too.

Who organized it?
Back in 2005, Bart’s parents organized it all. This time around, my brother-in-law (who was a little boy last time they went) suggested a return and when he sent out an email to gauge interest, just about everyone was in. He and his wife really took the lead finding lodging, choosing date, and organizing activities.

How/when do you set dates?
Bart’s brother sent out the initial email about this about in April of 2025. He got serious about planning and booking in September of 2005 and we went in July of 2006. Based on lodging availability for a group of our size, he suggested two different dates and we picked the one that worked best for the majority of us.

Who paid for what? How did you split everything?
Everyone paid for their own transportation there (about half of us flew and half of us drove), their activities, and breakfast, lunch, and snacks. Bart’s parents generously offered to cover lodging for everyone and they also provided dinner each night.

What was the housing situation?
We stayed at Doe Bay which has a number of camping and housing options on the property

We rented these properties:

Retreat House — The biggest accommodation on the property. This is where our family, Bart’s sister and her family (including one married daughter and her husband), and two older nephews stayed. This was the main hang-out house and we had all the dinners here. I actually never went to any of the other houses we rented!

Eden — A 4-person cabin. My in-laws and an older niece stayed here.

Salmonberry — A 4-person cabin. My brother-in-law, his wife and their toddler stayed here.

Otter’s Dream — A 6 person cabin across the creek on the west side of the cove. My sister-in-law and her three kids stayed here.

Neptune — An off-grid 2-person yurt, right by the beach. My SIL and her husband stayed here.

Cost breakdown?
Our flights were covered by credit card points so we didn’t pay anything for those.

Our rental car for a week was around $350 (we have a family hookup, so everyone in our group who rented a car got a smoking deal).

Whale watching was $50/person

Sunset Kayaking tour was $77/person

I spent about $160 on groceries for breakfast, lunches and snacks

We spent maybe $150-$200 on treats and snacks and souvenirs

The housing was pretty pricey – I never personally saw a total, but my sister-in-law told me that it was probably in the $10,000-$15,000 range for the whole week. You could absolutely bring that cost WAY down by camping!

How do you structure your family reunions?
There are generally activities or outings planned for each day, but they’re all optional and the only activity that we did all together was whale watching. It’s a lot of people coming and going and inviting anyone who wants to join for certain activities.

Do all 26 people get along?
Yes! We have a lot of different personalities and energy levels and interests and some people who are closer than others, but everyone is good natured and looking to have an enjoyable time. There’s basically never any drama.

How did you get to Orcas Island? Did you drive or fly?
Three families drove and three families flew. For those of us that flew, we came into the Seattle airport, picked up rental cars at the airport, drove to Anacortes, and then took the ferry over to Orcas Island. From the ferry it was a little over half an hour to Doe Bay where we were staying.

How far from the Seattle airport? Time with traffic?
It’s a couple of hours from the Seattle airport. It took us about 2.5 hours to get to Anacortes on a Wednesday afternoon (traffic wasn’t great) and about 90 minutes to get back to Seattle from Anacortes on a Tuesday morning.

Travel time to Orcas Island?
From the time we left our house in Utah until the time we arrived at our rental house in Doe Bay, it was almost exactly 12 hours. It wasn’t a quick trip!

How as the ferry to and from? Did you book in advance?
The ferry was super fun! It’s absolutely beautiful and there are puzzles set up to work on which I loved.

You absolutely should try to book ferry tickets in advance. They open sets of tickets 2 months, 2 weeks and 2 days in advance. You’ll want to get on the website beforehand, set up an account with payment method, and then get on right at 7a.m. when they open tickets to get them. They’re usually gone – at least in peak season – in a few minutes.

Do you need a car?
In my opinion, yes. Unless you want to stay in Eastsound and never leave the tiny village, you’ll definitely want a car. We did A LOT of driving while we were on the island.

Did it rain every day that you were there all day or just a few times during the day?
It was cloudy but clear our first morning and then rained the rest of the day. After that, we had five beautiful clear days in a row!

Was it chilly there?
The day that it rained was pretty chilly, but after that, it was nice. I wore a sweatshirt or sweater most days, but also sandals.

Warm enough to swim?
The water is definitely chilly, but it wasn’t so cold we weren’t willing to get in the water.

Did you consider wet suits for swimming?
We own wet suits, but didn’t consider bringing them and I have no regrets. Wetsuits are big and bulky (and we were packing in carry-ons only) and a pain to take on and off, so it would have had to be much colder for me to feel like it was worth the hassle.

What did you cook for 26 people?
Everyone was responsible for their own breakfast and lunches (we did yogurt and granola and fruit, eggs and sausage, and pancake mix with fruit, sandwiches, tuna melts, and bagged salads with grilled chicken).

For dinners, we had

• Costco curry and rice and naan bread
• Brats and salad with lots of fixings
• Burgers and roasted potatoes
• Grilled chicken and quinoa
• On the 4th of July we went to the Salmon BBQ at the fire house

Did you have to bring food in or could you get a delivery service?
My in-laws (who drove) stopped at Costco before taking the ferry and brought over a lot of the foods for dinner.

No idea if there is delivery service on Orcas Island

Is there a grocery store nearby?
Yes – Eastsound on Orcas Island had multiple grocery stores and we all stocked up for breakfasts and lunches there.

What did you bring?
We each brought a carry-on, so we didn’t have tons of stuff. Clothes (with layering options for chilly days), swimsuits, pjs. Those who drove brought puzzles and games.

Was it easy to find whale watching charters?
My brother-in-law booked it so I don’t know firsthand, but it seems like there were plenty of options.

Did you see any orcas?
Yes! We saw multiple pods on our whale watching trip, including a pod tossing around a baby whale which was so incredible!

What wildlife did you see?
Aside from the whales, we saw puffins, sea otters, river otters, sea lions, and bald eagles.

Doable in 2-3 days?
Totally!

Would it be a good travel destination for young kids/toddlers?
I think absolutely yes! (When my in-laws came 20 years ago, there were 6 grandkids from a few months old to 5 years old). So much outdoor stuff to do!

Would you visit the island again or did you see it “all?”
I would 100% go back! My 14 year old nephew said this was the happiest week of his life.

If you went to Orcas Island on a girls trip or just with a spouse would you do anything differently?
I’d probably stay in a lit

Did y’all only visit one island?
Yes – we stayed on Orcas Island the whole time.

Favorite things to do there?
I loved checking out all the little shops and bakeries on Eastsound (don’t miss Darvill’s Bookstore). The outdoor pottery place was amazing. I loved Mountain Lake and going up to Mount Constitution. Really, everything was amazing – there wasn’t one thing we did where I thought “I wish we’d skipped this.”

What as your kids favorite thing to do on Orcas?
My kids said swimming and paddleboarding at Mountain Lake, the spa and sauna, and the nature walk with cousins on the first morning. One of my girls also mentioned that she loved the free outdoor concert at the resort.

Any other questions about our Orcas Island trip? I’m happy to help!