Point Whitehorn Marine Reserve is a saltwater beach in Whatcom County, Washington. Across 24 bacteria samples collected between 2021 and 2025 at nearby monitoring stations, it earns a Beach Safety Grade of D — Poor.
About 13% of samples at Point Whitehorn Marine Reserve exceeded the EPA Beach Action Value of 235 CFU/100 mL for Escherichia coli — the threshold at which water managers typically post a swimming advisory. In practice that means the safe-swimming limit was frequently crossed here over the monitored period. Bacteria samples frequently exceed the safe-swimming threshold; swimming advisories are common here.
Read this grade as directional rather than settled: it draws on a single monitoring station and rests on only 24 samples. That is enough to classify how the water has behaved, but not enough to separate this beach from another a grade away — a beach graded from thousands of samples at several stations is a firmer read. As more results are reported, the grade may shift.
Point Whitehorn Marine Reserve is currently listed as inactive in the EPA beach-monitoring program, so it may no longer be routinely sampled. Its grade reflects the water-quality results collected while it was active — useful history, but confirm the beach's current status and any local advisory before you visit.