Only the sounds of a humpback between 4:02am – 4:45am rustling around in Blackney Pass registered on the hydrophone network as A34s, A23s and A50s had already departed to Queen Charlotte Strait and the A25s to parts east. The A42s remained “below” in Georgia Strait.
Morning came and with it the beginning of a series of reports on the whereabouts of the whales who had gone into Queen Charlotte Strait. At 7:46am Troy Bright’s research assistant sent word that the A50s and A34s were around Bere Point making a lot of vocals. Typically the day’s visibility was hampered by fog.
It was not until 11:17am that we heard one of the whale watch boats declare that 22 orcas were off Bowlder Point, Malcolm Island. Dylan soon chimed in with details. He was with the A34s and A50s with the A23s close to shore. He remarked he had not seen the A25s yet but that was to be expected. We lost track of Surge, Cordero and Twilight before midnight when they were still off of the eastern end of the Reserve. We had no indication that they had come further west. If, by chance they did, they did so quietly. Events later in the day supported the idea that they were perhaps still east of the Reserve.
There was some chatter to the west about whales in Gordon Channel around 11:49am.
Just before noon, The Ambient Light remarked on the number of humpbacks trap feeding in Weynton Pass when on its way towards the orcas in Queen Charlotte Strait. We were going to notice this feeding behaviour later in Blackney Pass as well. It was the Ambient Light that, at 12:09pm, then reported that the Resident orcas had moved past Lizard Point and were headed now to Donegal Head where they only arrived at 1:19pm. Progress it seemed was fairly relaxed.
Indeed, Alex, watching, described the A23s at 1:26pm as having formed a resting line. Some foraging was also stalling their efforts to progress further east. Alex, watching a second resting line that she took to be the A34s, reported that a sailboat “blundered into them” and that the whales, initially moving toward Blackfish Sound, then turned toward Weynton Pass. The whales readjusted after this rude intrusion and continued toward Blackfish.
It was now getting closer to 2pm. The whales were close enough now for us to hear them from the Flower Island hydrophone but we were not going to see them until at least an hour later.
The orcas once in Blackfish spread out to forage. We could hear both A1 (A34s and A50s) and A5 (A23) calls. Around 2:30pm the leading whales were off Flower Island and they were definitely now headed toward Blackney Pass. According to Dylan the A50s had tucked themselves in with the A23s while the A34s remained spread out.
At 3:06pm the A50s and A23s came in sight of the Lab taking long dives as they did so but still moving south. They were travelling mid channel favouring the Hanson Island shore. They came in as one group, all mixed together, and stayed that way as they moved through and disappeared from view at 3:45pm.
Ten minutes later CP had them in their sights. Momoko controlled the remote camera from inside the Lab back on Hanson Island. It was simply beautiful, calm, rolling whales. The whales were close to CP. A60 was again travelling with Bend (A72).
Just after 4pm the whales, still in unison, began to angle toward mid strait. But they were now in the path of the cruise ship that had just come out of Blackney Pass. The cruise ship stopped its engines. Had they seen the whales? Were they being careful? Or were they whale watching? Straitwatch was on hand and may have a clearer idea what this big boat was doing. The upshot of the encounter was that the whales, as happened before with the sailboat, changed direction and moved closer to Vancouver Island but continued travelling east toward the Reserve.
The unusually marked humpback Kata was a bit of a necessary distraction for CP.
At 5:10pm their calls were heard on the Kaizumi station. CP, watching them hesitate, then saw them move closer to Vancouver Island from 5:33pm on and at 5:36pm they began to rub on the beach there. The rub lasted until 5:40pm. After the rub the whales turned and went west close to the Vancouver Island shore.
A humpback somewhere close to Parson Island in Blackney Pass began a ‘bubble net” while making the sounds associated with this feeding strategy. Momoko, still in the Lab, could hear the bubbles rise to the surface. It was quite an extended effort.
By the time the orcas reached Little Kaikash it was 6:15pm. Lots of people at the camp were on the beach watching. The Prince of Whales, Ocean Magic II, rushed toward the scene. Continuing close to Vancouver Island the whales approached Blinkhorn at 6:55pm where reports described them as quite vocal and very social.
It was to be that the A23s and A50s would not spend the night in the Strait. They elected instead to go through Weynton Pass. We could hear them in the Strait until 9:26pm and almost an hour later, at 10:23pm we heard them come out on the Blackfish side. The restless orcas were not content to stay there and as calls got closer and clearer it became evident that they were on their way back to Blackney Pass. Their clear calls ended at 10:41pm but their echolocation persisted giving more hints about their intended direction.
Sure enough, whales entered Blackney just after 11pm. They progressed smartly through the Pass and the first group cleared at 11:33pm followed by the second group at 11:40pm. The first group was already well into the entrance to Blackney Pass by then.
Both groups negotiated their way through the rip. At 11:51pm CP could hear the first group’s blows mid strait in front of them. The second group came very close to the CP platform at 11:56pm. It seemed as if the first group crossed the Strait soon after.
This time, the whales remained in the Strait for the night. The A34s never did come back in with the others but departed for Queen Charlotte Strait sometime after 2:30pm. There was the suggested thought that maybe they had gone to meet the whales reported incoming from Numas Island at 3:17pm. That is a welcomed idea and it might explain the crazy quick circles that the A23s and A50s made together before they settled down in the Strait for the night.
We were left wondering still about the A25s. How far east had they gone? Are they anxiously waiting for the A42s to come back?
