Who's Swimming Past Fox Island This Winter? A Shore Watcher's Guide to Local Orcas

On Sept. 19, 2025, most of J Pod swam south through the Tacoma Narrows, crossed Hale Passage under the Fox Island Bridge and turned into Carr Inlet. The next day they left the inlet heading south, then turned back north. The Orca Behavior Institute called the trip unusual and said it had no recent record of J Pod going that far south.

That visit was the one that made the news. The orcas that turned up off Fox Island in the months that followed came with less attention. They were a different kind of killer whale, and they explain more about when to look from the island's shore.

The quieter sightings tell the real story

Orca Network keeps a running log of reported sightings around the Salish Sea. Here is what it recorded on and near Fox Island after J Pod's trip.

Every whale in that table whose type was identified was a Bigg's killer whale. Southern Residents did come into Puget Sound that winter. On Jan. 7, 2026, J and K pods traveled south and were documented at Point Robinson and in nearby Colvos Passage, around Vashon Island and north of the Narrows. None of the reports from that week place them in Hale Passage.

The pattern has been building for a while. In The News Tribune's coverage of J Pod's 2025 trip, Orca Network co-director Stephanie Raymond said other orca pods are more likely to visit south of Point Defiance. She said Southern Residents usually come down to the south end of Vashon Island and then head north or loop around it. On J Pod reaching Fox Island, she told the paper that "people were really just pretty surprised to see J Pod go down there this weekend because that just has not happened in a really long time."

Why the whale type changes the calendar

The difference comes down to food. Raymond told The News Tribune that Southern Residents eat salmon and follow the salmon runs. Bigg's orcas, also called transients, eat larger mammals like porpoises, seals and sea lions.

That is why "orca season" means one thing for Seattle and something looser for Fox Island. The Southern Resident season is tied to salmon. Raymond said those pods typically show up in Puget Sound in early October. The Orca Behavior Institute's roundup for September 2026 says the Southern Residents have already started this year's fall trips into Puget Sound. It counted Southern Residents on 16 days that month, including J, K and Greater L4 groups.

The whales that keep coming to this island are hunting a different menu. Their recent visits to Fox Island fell in late October, over New Year's and in mid-May. That makes this a fall-and-winter habit worth watching for, but not a promise. The same roundup counted 270 unique Bigg's sightings across the Salish Sea in September 2026 alone. These whales move around a lot, and Fox Island is on their route often enough to keep binoculars by the window.

Two spots on the island where the sightings happened

The table above keeps pointing to the same two public shorelines. Both are PenMet Parks properties, and both are open 7 a.m. to dusk. In November and December, dusk comes early, so the time you can watch from either park is much shorter than in summer.

DeMolay Sandspit Park, also called Bella Bella Beach, at 53 Bella Bella Drive. This 8.7-acre park has viewpoints and beach access, and PenMet lists whale watching among its features. It is also where people reported the two whales on Oct. 30, 2025, and Bella Bella appears again in the New Year's reports. This winter matters more than usual here. PenMet's August 2026 project update says permitting for the Phase II accessibility and park improvements took longer than expected, so construction moves to 2027 and the park stays open until then. The same page says the sandspit will be closed during construction. So the sandspit is open this winter, and the closure comes once construction begins in 2027. PenMet says the finished project will include accessible beach access, a mid-site entrance with ADA parking, accessible restrooms and picnic areas. The adjacent 3.5-acre expansion at 52 and 58 Island Blvd. is already open to the public.

Fox Island Fishing Pier, at 1453 Ozette Drive. The pier sits on the eastern tip of the island. The Department of Fish and Wildlife built it, and PenMet now manages it. The 9-acre site has 635 feet of shoreline, a 1,200-square-foot pier that is accessible for people with disabilities, paved paths with handrails, parking and restrooms. That makes it the most comfortable place on the island to stand and scan the water, which is where the T124Ds were reported as 2025 turned into 2026. One change to know before a late-day trip: PenMet is testing an automatic gate here, along with automatic restroom locks that staff can control remotely.

If you want options beyond the island, Orca Network keeps a public map of shoreline viewpoints around the region.

If you are watching from a boat instead

Washington's vessel rules depend on which whales are in the water. RCW 77.15.740, as amended effective Jan. 1, 2025, addresses Southern Resident killer whales. As the statute reads, it:

• prohibits approaching within 1,000 yards of one
• prohibits positioning a vessel in its path, or behind it, within that distance
• caps speed at 7 knots within 1,000 yards
• requires vessels within 400 yards to disengage their transmission

For other killer whales, including Bigg's, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife says to stay at least 200 yards away. WDFW also tells boaters to assume an orca is a Southern Resident unless they can reliably tell otherwise. We share this summary as general information, not legal advice. Anyone boating near whales should read the statute and WDFW's guidance directly or confirm with the agency.

Where the next sighting report comes from

Each row in that table started as someone's report from shore. Orca Network takes sightings through an online form that asks for the date and time, location, coordinates if you have them, the type of whale, how many and what they were doing. According to Orca Network's Whale Sighting Network page, staff and outside experts check each report and compare it with others. The Whale Report app from Ocean Wise also accepts sightings from anyone. Those reports are reviewed and added to a research database, and authorized large commercial ships can receive whale alerts from it. A sighting called in from Bella Bella or the pier can end up as one of those alerts.

You can also hear about the whales without leaving the island. The Fox Island Community and Recreation Association has an Orca Network presentation on the calendar for this Saturday, Nov. 7, from 1 to 5 p.m. at Nichols Community Center, 690 9th Ave. The listing doesn't name a speaker or say whether there is a cost, so check FICRA's event page before you go. It is a good chance to learn how to tell a Bigg's from a Southern Resident before the next group turns into Hale Passage.

Part of living on Fox Island is knowing your own stretch of shoreline, whether that means the view from a bluff above Carr Inlet or a dock in Hale Passage. If you're thinking about how your water view or shoreline access fits into a future move, Infinity Real Estate would be glad to talk it through with you. Schedule a free consultation.