- Orcas Island lies in the San Juan archipelago of the Salish Sea in Northwest Washington. Mountainous and heavily forested, the island is nearly divided by the long inlet of East Sound, with two smaller inlets (West Sound and Deer Harbor) indenting its western half. Human habitation stretches back thousands of years and Orcas has been part of the traditional home for the Lummi tribe and other Straits Salish peoples…