Located on Fidalgo Island, the vibrant seaside town of Anacortes serves as a gateway to the San Juan Islands and is a popular area for whale watching. Because of Anacortes’s proximity to the Cascadia Subduction Zone that lines a section of the ocean along the Pacific Northwest coast and two extremely well monitored actives volcanoes, Mt. Baker and Glacier Peak, it is important to understand what these risks mean. Printing out tsunami evacuation routes and signing up for a VNS (volcano notification system) is a smart and safe way to travel and enjoy your time in Anacortes.

Port Angeles is a harbor town nestled on the shores of the Strait of Juan De Fuca and at the foot of the forested Olympic Mountains. The town of only about 19,000 people is located just a few miles outside of Olympic National Park and serves as an excellent home base for exploring all the Olympic Peninsula has to offer. While Port Angeles is at risk for tsunamis and earthquakes, there are excellent local resources so you can travel there feeling prepared and educated.