The A25s and A34s were still present as the clock ticked midnight. Calls came in from Strider Rubbing Beach, continuing on and off for a few hours through the night. At 4:40am they took one quick pass at Strider, given away by the signature “chuff” sound of clashing pebbles, before all continuing west, travelling quickly past Cracroft Point and on into Blackney Pass.
By 6:55am both groups had entered Blackney Pass, moving fast to the north. We could clearly identify A34, A55 and A80 amidst some swirling fog. They called briefly in Blackfish Sound until about 7:30am. At 9:32am, those listening to the hydrophone at Double Bay could hear them again and at 12:36pm Alex, watching from Donegal Head, briefly saw orcas approaching Bold Head heading east before they disappeared into the fog. They had turned! We picked up their calls – both A34 and A25 – and echolocation back up in Blackfish Sound at 12:53pm.
Like days prior, they seemed a little non-committal to either Blackney or Weynton for a while. By 2pm, Alex reported from Donegal Head that the A25s and A67s (a matriline from the A34s) had peeled off towards Weynton Passage, while the rest of the A34s held closer to Swanson Island. They didn’t stay apart for long, as by 2:35pm the remaining A34s had followed through the Plumpers and into Weynton Passage themselves. By 3:08pm we had started to hear them in western Johnstone Strait.
From there they travelled east again, slowly along the Vancouver Island side towards Kaikash Creek by 3:48pm. At 4:07pm we could make out fins on the Cracroft Point camera, out in the middle of the Strait, and by 4:24pm they’d paused off Cracroft Point to forage. The current was due to switch to an ebb, and we were hopeful it would pull them in to Blackney!
For a moment, at 5:45pm, it looked like they were headed our way, but they promptly turned again. They headed slightly east, before allowing the current to carry them gently back down Johnstone Strait to the west. The last few calls came in around 8:30pm, as the A34s and A25s either remained silent or headed out of our range into Queen Charlotte Strait.
