Deer Harbor is a small community located on the western side of Orcas Island in the San Juan Islands of Washington state in the United States. The community is located on the shores of Deer Harbor, a protected bay that is popular for boating, fishing, and other water-based activities.
Deer Harbor is known for its laid-back atmosphere and beautiful natural surroundings. The community is home to a number of vacation rentals, as well as a marina and a public boat launch. There are also a number of parks and nature preserves areas in the area, which are great for hiking, biking, and birdwatching.
Other popular activities in the Deer Harbor area include fishing, boating, and whale watching. The waters around Orcas Island are home to a number of different whale species, and there are several companies that offer guided whale watching tours.
Deer Harbort Resort and Marina
When you arrive, it is good to know that the docks are arranged alphabetically A, B, C, D from the north towards the south. The first dock you see when you come in is the D dock, then the C Dock with the store and party barge, the B dock and A dock.
Shown above: the Deer Harbor store and party barge, with the community BBQ.
The staff are friendly and the Marina is clean and easy to get into. Deer Harbor is a bit less commercialized than Friday Harbor or Roche Harbor, and therefore there are less amenities. There is a nice pizza restaurant and BBQ restaurant that we want to try when we return.
Deer Harbor does have some interesting rules or as they call them amenities.
Garbage, only when the store or gift shop are open to get a key. Don’t plan on filling up your water tank unless you can fill it in 5 minutes. There is WiFi, but it is not very fast, so don’t plan on using it. We didn’t need the courtesy phone as our cell phone service and cell internet was extremely reliable at Deer Harbor. Not bad as nothing here was inconvenient except when we wanted to dump our trash and recycling before the store opened.
Deer Harbor is also very dog friendly. Benny (shown above) was able to say hello to many dogs as they walked by the boat.
Matthews Smokehouse is just up the road and has great BBQ food.
Deer Harbor is on my list to come back to, stay a bit longer and experience all that it has to offer.
Nearby places to stay
- Roche Harbor
- Friday Harbor
- Lopez Islander
- Rosario
- Stuart Island
- Jones Island