It is bordered on the east by Bellingham, Washington, to the south-east by the Chuckanut Mountains, and to the south by Samish Bay.

[1] The first European entry of the bay was by the Spanish schooner Santa Saturnina under José María Narváez, during the 1791 expedition of Francisco de Eliza.

[3] In 1996, federal, state, tribal, and local governments came together to form the Bellingham Bay Demonstration Pilot team.

The mission of the pilot team was to develop an approach to clean up contamination, control pollution sources and restore habitat among the Bay.

In addition, they put into consideration the land and water uses at state cleanup sites around Bellingham Bay.