the water
The Salish Sea and the Strait of Georgia, explained for a boat trip
Where the tour sails, how big the strait is and what shapes the coast around you.
Reserve your whale tour ↗The places on the route
| Place | What it is |
|---|---|
| Salish Sea | A marginal sea of the Pacific shared by British Columbia and Washington state |
| Strait of Georgia | An arm of the Salish Sea between Vancouver Island and the mainland, about 240 km long |
| Gulf Islands | An archipelago at the southern end of the strait |
| San Juan Islands | A second archipelago at the southern end of the strait |
| Howe Sound | One of the named views from the trip |
| Granville Island | A peninsula and market district across False Creek from downtown Vancouver |
A sea shared by two countries
The Salish Sea lies partly in British Columbia and partly in Washington state. It includes the Strait of Georgia, the Strait of Juan de Fuca and Puget Sound, plus a network of connecting channels. Vancouver Island and the Olympic Peninsula partly separate it from the open Pacific, which is why its waters read as a sea in their own right.
The strait in numbers
The Strait of Georgia runs for about 240 kilometres and varies from 20 to 58 kilometres wide. It lies between Vancouver Island and the southwestern mainland coast of British Columbia,, so a trip out of Vancouver crosses a broad stretch of open water.
Islands at both ends
Archipelagos mark each end of the strait: the Gulf Islands and the San Juan Islands in the south and the Discovery Islands in the north. The trip names the Gulf Islands and the San Juan Islands among its views, together with Howe Sound, so your horizon is rarely open water alone.
A working waterway
The strait is a major shipping channel on the west coast of North America, thanks to the Port of Vancouver, and it is the southern entrance to the Inside Passage. It is a working waterway as well as a wildlife one.
Vancouver at the edge
Vancouver anchors the northern end of the Salish Sea and Seattle the southern, which puts a whale trip within reach of a major city. That is the reason the departure point can be a market district, not a remote harbour.
The place you leave from
Granville Island is a peninsula and shopping district in Fairview, across False Creek from downtown. It holds a public market, restaurants, artists' studios and a marina. The covered catamaran and the open-air catamaran both leave from there, so there is time for something to eat before you check in.