September 25 began with the A34s in Johnstone Strait, their calls growing more and more excited by 12:30am. From there the night became interesting: around the same time, distant A5 calls – sounding very much like the A23s – were picked up on the system of Strider Rubbing Beach, suggesting they might have been entering Johnstone Strait from the west. Within the next hour, however, only the A34s were heard again on Kaizumi Rubbing Beach, their calls once more rising in excitement around 1:30am.
Shifting eastward, members of the A34s reached Main Rubbing Beach by 2:41am. Remaining at the eastern end of the hydrophone network for several hours, their calls – occasionally bursting with excitement – continued. At 4:15am somebody rubbed at Main for three minutes. As dawn approached, the A62s (A62,A83,A91,A107,A130) followed with a three-minute session on Strider Rubbing Beach before joining the smaller A34 group (A34,A55,A80,A986,A132) westbound, travelling in a beautiful family line.
By 8:09am, PWWA reported them westing off Critical Point. Milling for a time, they eventually turned west again, reaching Cracroft Point by 9:30am after crossing Johnstone Strait. Their westward journey took them into Weynton Passage, with the last calls in the Strait fading by 11:13am.
About an hour later they entered Blackfish Sound, their calls once again growing excited by 12:15pm. Meanwhile, Kaizumi Rubbing Beach picked up further A34 calls, likely from the A67s trailing behind. Calls continued until 12:42pm.
As the A34s moved around the top end of Blackfish Sound and Queen Charlotte Strait in the afternoon Alex witnessed an unfortunate scene. During a Coast Guard rescue practice, the A34s surfaced directly beneath their low flying plane which proceeded to drop several flares onto the water. The deployed flares issued smoke. At 3:18pm A83 was seen in the thick of it. The group soon moved west, their last faint calls heard by 3:30pm.
Alex’s account of the event:
Here is my report on observations made today.
“At 1430 I arrived on the bluff at Donegal Head and scanned for killer whales with binoculars. I spotted a large male in Blackfish Sound with a slight left bend on the top of his fin. Given that A34 matriline calls were recently on the OrcaLab Flower Island hydrophone which monitors Blackfish Sound and whale watchers nearby told me they were with A55 and A34, I identified the male orca halfway across Blackfish Sound as A83. I noticed unusual wisps of what looked like fog in blotches on the water just ahead of him. When I turned the binoculars towards them I saw there were bright burning spots on the water and smoke was coming from them.
I then heard a large plane circling over them and another flaming spot appeared on the water closer to me. I phoned Victoria Coast Guard to report there were killer whales under the plane in the field of smoke. I later saw a humpback whale on the other side of the smoke nearer to Swanson Island. The staff I spoke to in Victoria voiced concern and said he would contact the plane crew and stop the exercise. I hung up and kept observing. The plane continued circling and then approximately five minutes after my call with Coast Guard, a crew member in the plane announced on Channel 16 that they would be dropping a “smoke bomb” and then said something to the effect that this was only an exercise, not an emergency.
I made a short broadcast to alert the crew that there were killer whales under the plane. A person immediately replied that they would not be dropping another smoke bomb and flew away shortly after that. I wondered why they announced they would be dropping another smoke bomb after I had alerted the Victoria Coast Guard that there were killer whales in the smoke field.
At 1517 I saw A83 again on the other side of where the smoke plumes had been.”
Attached are pictures of the smoke on the water.
Alexandra Morton
Thank goodness Alex’s was watching and acted!
Silence followed until the late evening. At 11:30pm, Alex reported more than ten blows passing her from the north, angling towards Double Bay. Relief! The whales had not abandoned the area after the disturbance.
Elsewhere, the A42s and A25s were reported offshore of Vancouver, angling south. It remains to be seen when they will return.
