For this day the orcas divided themselves along family lines, A1 and A5. They started off in the same place but soon decided on different priorities. At 12:11am we heard the start of their return to Blackfish Sound from the west. Especially between 1 and 2am the strength of their calls and echolocation grew. By 2:25am, only the A5 calls were heard in Blackney Pass. The division had been made. The A23s and A25s of the A5 pod would proceed to Johnstone Strait leaving the A50s, A54s and A34s (all of the A1 pod) in Blackfish. The A1 calls ceased at 2:58am as those whales returned to Queen Charlotte Strait and the A5s continued to move through the entrance to Blackney Pass and into Johnstone Strait.
From 3am, the two A5 families, the A23s and A25s moved out into the Strait and eastward. The A23s were nearing Strider by 7am. An A25 rub began at 6:57am only to end at 7:20am. Calls on Kaizumi ended at 7:29am.
The day was completely socked in, probably the worst foggy day ever. Paul was anxious to get to town so he could help Raffi, who had been visiting for a couple of days, meet his flight out of Port Hardy. The fog just did not seem to want to budge. Plans were revised, as they always are in these situations, and expectations lowered. When the fog eventually lifted in the afternoon Paul was able to take Raffi to Telegraph Cove and go on and complete his modified tasks in Alert Bay and Port McNeill.
Meanwhile tracking whales was pretty much reduced to listening. CP could not see the other side of the Strait. We could not see any of Blackney Pass beyond our immediate bay.
In the fog, the A23s and A25s, ended their travels east, turned and went west. Just before 9am Seasmoke found one orca off Telegraph Cove but could not see others. At 9:10am five others were noticed going past Telegraph Cove. If you have been reading these reports, you may guess that the orcas were soon headed to Beaver Cove, often a destination and turning point. A60 was actually seen first and then both family groups soon after. This time they did not spend a lot of time in Beaver Cove. A VHF radio report at 10:06am indicated that the two groups were heading mid strait back to the east.
The night’s excursions seemed to have caught up with the A23s who formed a resting line opposite Blinkhorn. Blows on the Hanson Island side suggested that the two families had separated. Indeed, the research vessel the Achiever confirmed seeing the A25s off Hanson Island’s Big Bay area at 11:26am.
The A50s and A54s, now without the A34s, returned and were first found off of the Plumper Islands on the Weynton Island side around 11:15am. By the time the A25s had reached Big Bay, the A50s and A54s were still in the vicinity of the Plumper Islands.
By noon the fog had yet to lift and CP relied on the boats to relay information. The A25s, according to the Achiever, were crossing the Strait. The cross was not completed or was altered (much like Paul’s revised trip to town!) as Surge “popped” in the fog on his own on the Cracroft Island side.
Our attention toggled between what was happening in the Strait and Blackfish Sound where the A50s and A54s had moved east to Dong Chong Bay which is only 11/2 km west of the Lab. This was around 1pm. Forty minutes later they were still there but around 2pm they turned in the opposite direction.
The groups in the Strait, before 3pm, began to adjust their intentions too. At 2:45pm the A23s, who had been near the Kaizumi area for a while, got back into a western oriented resting line. The A25s, who were still east of them had entered the Bight already. We could hear them and others could see their blows in the Bight past 4pm.
Off CP the humpback Ridge breached four times while, not only Freckles and baby looked on, but Suzie too, who was at CP with her friends for a quick visit.
The A30 calls resumed at 4:22pm. This continued until 4:35pm. Again, stereo calls continued in Blackfish Sound and Johnstone Strait. from just before 5pm through to 5:16pm. By then the A25s had moved some distance from the Bight along the Vancouver Island shore. The seven fins seen heading west off of Telegraph Cove at 5:38pm belonged to the A23s. By then the A25s were now off Kaikash Creek.
Somewhat similarly to the day before, the A54s slipped into Blackney Pass at 5:43pm from the west. There was no urgency in their movement. They milled, foraged, stalled, took a long dive and changed direction. Killing time? Waiting? They eventually left to go back to Blackfish at 6:20pm. By then the A25s had passed the entrance to Blackney, Surely the A54s heard them.
Behind the fog, long gone, had been an unseen, unfelt warm, only slightly overcast day. Evening cleared all that away for a beautiful sunset.
There were few changes for the A50s and A54s in Blackfish Sound throughout the period of the evening before midnight. For the most part their calls were not close. There was some echolocation so we knew they were altering their positions. Just after 11pm their calls became distant. Their day had been slow, relaxed and they, content to stay in the same general area. Felt like they were conserving energy for something yet to happen.The A5s had shown more inclination to move. Once back to the west of CP they turned again and went east to at least just west of the Bight. Their expressions were lively and loud at times. Finally between 11:35 and midnight their calls became faint. Still in the Strait but now quite distant. They would let us know the next day where they ended up during the night.
Perhaps it was the thick fog but the day had a rather pleasant slowness about it. Hampered visually for a good portion of the day we had to leave off the busyness of looking and searching and just listen, very much the same as what we do at night. At night, though the shifts can seem long sometimes, when the orcas call, spaces compress and one feels closer and a part of what is going on. Strange but true.
