Orcas Island is one of the San Juan Islands off the coast of Washington State and is accessible by boat, ferry, or plane. Any farther northwest and you’d be in Canada.
Our island is shaped like a globby horseshoe and its only town is Eastsound, which is located at the star at the top middle of the photo below.
The photo to the left is the view from Eastsound down the middle of the Sound, with the sides of the horseshoe on the left and right, and little Indian Island in the foreground.
Looking at a map, you’ll see other place names that look like towns – Orcas, West Sound, Deer Harbor, West Beach, Rosario, Olga, Doe Bay (most of which are the other stars) – but they are community and tourist areas that lack the main amenities you’d find in town.
Orcas Island, or simply Orcas, as we call it, is pronounced OR-kəs. It was named after a man (Horcasitas), not whales.
