Outdoor Activities in Birch Bay
More Area AttractionsCrabbing and Clamming
You can easily catch your limit of clams in just a short amount of time. We like to clam in the state park where it’s rocky and loaded with clams. If you are looking for horse clams, just wait for a low tide and go straight out in front of our condo. The crabbing season is short, just mid August through September, but the crab is excellent. You can use pots, rings, or simply walk out onto the beach an pick up your crab as it crawls through the water.
Sand Castle Building
When the tide is out, the Bay is a great place to build sand castles. You can spend hours creating sand sculptures on the beach and then watch it get washed away as the tide comes back in. During June, the Birch Bay Chamber sponsors a Sandcastle Contest.
Kite Flying
This is another great low tide activity. Hours of amusement flying kites, or just tie it to your beach chair and watch it dance through the air.
Swimming
It’s hard to imagine swimming in the ocean in Washington, but this is the place to do it. After a low tide, the ocean water is temporarily heated up to bathtub temperatures by the sun warmed sand as the tide returns. Since the tide flats are so shallow, young swimmers can enjoy a safe place to swim with virtually no undertow.
Bird Watching
The northwest corner of Washington State offers some of the finest winter bird watching in the country. The natural shoreline areas provide food and shelter to a wide variety of migrating birds during the winter months. There is an annual Birding Festival in early spring. The area is also home to many resident birds like the Great Blue Herons which are seen in the Bay daily. The North Cascades Audubon website has a map of birding locations in Whatcom County.
Biking
Birch Bay Drive is both scenic and flat making it a great place for biking. Semiahmoo Park is another beautiful area perfect for all levels of bikers with its flat, paved trail. More experienced bikers can take a beautiful ride from our condo to Semiahmoo, down to Ferndale, or even as far as Chuckanut drive in Bellingham.
Kayaking
Birch Bay is shallow and stays relatively calm so it is a great place for all levels of kayakers. During high tides, you can kayak up Terrell Creek towards Birch Bay State Park. My favorite time to kayak is in the evening when the water is usually very calm and the sun is beginning to set.
Boating/Fishing
Birch Bay State Park has a public boat launch, as well as does Blaine Marina, which also has Salmon Charters.
