History Sunset Cruises Are Back and Reimagined for 2025

Maritime history and local lore with the Good Time Girls’ Kolby LaBree;
Test your knowledge of famous Bellingham people, places, and events from the past to the present with Quizmaster Randall Ragsdale from World’s Best Trivia;
And one special family history cruise on July 22 with poet Julie Trimingham of Sacred Sea and Nooksack storytellers Tammy Cooper-Woodrich and Angela Cooper-Woodrich, who will share tales of the Salish Sea.

Cruises set sail at 6 pm every Tuesday from July 8 through August 26, departing from the Bellingham Cruise and Ferry Terminal in Fairhaven. Boarding time is 5:45 pm, and the cruise returns to dock at 8 pm.

The Whatcom Museum partners with San Juan Cruises each summer to offer the much-anticipated History Sunset Cruises to the Bellingham community. Guests will travel aboard the 100-foot Victoria Star, which features indoor and outdoor seating on two levels, and onboard snack bar, and a full bar with a selection of Northwest beers, wines, and cocktails. Guests are welcome to bring their own dinner, snacks, and non-alcoholic beverages on board as well.

Ticket prices are $55 ($45 for Whatcom Museum members), and children 5 and younger sail for free. Tickets can be purchased online at the Whatcom Museum website or in-person at the Museum Store (150 Flora St.) during normal museum admission hours. Day-of tickets must be purchased at least six hours before the cruise’s departure time, with potential walk-on tickets available at the dock. Tickets are rain or shine, non-refundable, and non-transferrable. Proceeds from History Sunset Cruises support the Whatcom Museum exhibitions and educational programs. The Whatcom Museum Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.

About the Whatcom Museum

The Whatcom Museum was founded in 1941 and overlooks Washington State’s Bellingham Bay. Notable projects have included the 2019 retrospective exhibition WANTED: Ed Bereal for Disturbing the Peace, featured in The New York Times; the award-winning, co-curated exhibition Many Wests: Artists Shape an American Idea, which traveled to the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C., in 2023; and Verdant: French Masterworks from the National Gallery of Art. Also on view now are El velo exquisito / The Exquisite Veil: Works by Alfredo Arreguín and Not the Whole Picture, Garth Amundson & Pierre Gour.

Opening this summer are A Pull to the Pacific: West Coast Lithography of the New Deal Era; Mary Ann Peters’ myself inside your story; and Meander by Io Palmer. The Whatcom Museum is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums.

The Whatcom Museum campus in downtown Bellingham includes three buildings: the Lightcatcher, Old City Hall, and Old Fire Station No. 1. For more information about exhibitions and admission, visit whatcommuseum.org.

We acknowledge that Whatcom County is located on the unceded territory of the Coast Salish Peoples. They cared for the lands that included what we’d call the Puget Sound region, Vancouver Island and British Columbia since time immemorial. This gives us the great obligation and opportunity to learn how to care for our surrounding areas and all the natural and human resources we require to live. We express our deepest respect and gratitude for our indigenous neighbors, the Lummi Nation and Nooksack Tribe, for their enduring care and protection of our shared lands and waterways.