Let’s start with a less than pleasant event. Sorry. Zooming ahead to 2pm. The recent familiar orca families had virtually spent the entire night in Queen Charlotte Strait. There had been a brief trip into the Strait at 1:48am followed by a retreat back to Queen Charlotte Strait. Through the morning they journeyed back. But it took a while and it was afternoon before they once again got within range of our hydrophone briefly. When the whales shifted toward the Plumper Islands at the western end of Hanson Island in Weynton Passage they could not be heard any longer. This is when Ocean Magic II reported to Straitwatch that a cruise ship had launched several zodiacs and that they were following the whales and not respecting the required 200 meter distance. Ocean Magic II took it upon themselves to remind the zodiacs of the regulations over the VHF radio.
This is quite an appalling incident and we hope that further action, like contacting the cruise ship company directly, will happen. Apparently the cruise ship launched the boats when at dock in Alert Bay where there are signs clearly posted about the regulations. A lot of effort goes into educating the public and boat operators about respecting the whales. It took a long time before self regulations evolved into guidelines and then eventually the formal regulations. Without those protective regulations there would be many more questionable interactions.
A short while later the whales were travelling at speed with the strong flood towards Weynton Island which is located where Weynton Pass meets Johnstone Strait. By now we were getting acoustic clues as to which whales had come back into the Strait. The A34s, A23s, A25s would be the first to make the list. The A54s, more elusive, would remain a question mark. Unlike the other three groups the A54s have no tall male fins. The whereabouts of the A50s also had yet to be determined. By 2:44pm a group of ten orcas, quite spread out, was crossing over to the Vancouver Island shore. The estimate of how many orcas present then grew to 23 as they headed east from Telegraph Cove.
The Lab waiting for the orcas with the CP remote camera trained to the west watched two to three humpbacks move about the rip west of CP.
Meanwhile, CP, waiting “down the line” at Cracroft Point for the orcas to draw near, saw blows tight against the Vancouver Island shore at 3:16pm. Costal 1 confirmed that one group had grouped up and was moving slowly off Blinkhorn. However, around 4pm the boats were saying that the majority of whales had yet to advance very far. The A23s according to the research vessel the Achiever were still off Telegraph Cove.Straitwatch reported that most of the orcas were further west in Beaver Cove.
Scotty discovered the missing A50s in Blackfish Sound foraging from Bold Head to Flower Island at 4:15pm. The Lab found that promising!
By 4:46pm movement in the Strait was beginning to quicken. CP saw far off blows at Blinkhorn. Not long after Straitwatch reported that the A23s and A34s, who must have come together in Beaver Cove, were now heading east mid strait. Our best clue that the A54s were in the Strait were their defining A30 calls. The other A30 family, the A50s were clearly not involved with the action in the Strait, as they were still in Blackfish Sound. The A54s were added to the list.
Around 6pm, A5 calls got louder on the Kaizumi system. The Ocean Magic II estimated at 6:03pm that the orcas were travelling twelve knots as they went east. That is very fast! They remarked that, while others headed to Robson Bight, there was a huge spread over two kilometers along the Vancouver Island shoreline. At 6:06pm, a short three minute rub happened at Kaizumi. The loud A54 calls at 6:10pm resulted in another quick rub from 6:13pm to 6:16 pm. Scotty found some of the A54s back at Kaiaksh and mentioned he had seen the A34s earlier.
The A50s, meanwhile, had moved a bit further west and were now between Donegal Head and Bold Head. We heard them call and echolocate at 6:24pm.
CP was reporting that around ten orcas past Kaizumi on the Vancouver Island side at 6:28pm. Too far to clearly identify. Just before 7pm the calls in Blackfish Sound ceased. Those of the A54s and A34s in the Strait continued.
By 7:19pm, the lead orcas were closing in on Critical Point in Robson Bight. That would be as far as these groups would venture. As they pulled away from the Vancouver Island side and into mid strait their calls became fainter. They were swinging over to the Cracroft Island shore where they would begin to come west. It was closing in on 8pm.
At the Lab, the humpback Meniscus who had brushed past close to CP (right under the deck!) came into Blackney Pass and at 8:24pm, following the Hanson Island shoreline surfaced just to the south of the Lab. We could follow his movement as he ever so slightly disturbed the surface creating ripples and small waves. He resurfaced just by our mooring and carried on with a deeper dive toward Burnt Point.
The orcas in the Strait were now approaching CP from the Sophia Islands. Each group was three minutes behind the other. The A23s passed first at 8:30pm. The A34s, close together, went by at 8:33pm and the A25s at 8:36pm. CP watched the last of them clear into Blackney Pass at 8:43pm.
They came into Blackney on the strong ebb and in the almost dark. They kept the same order as they had shown at CP . They moved forward mid channel as slightly separated families. They were gone 10 minutes after first arriving.
They were on their way to the waiting A50s off Bold Head. The list was complete.
