We need to tidy up the reports but the early morning activity brought more questions than answers. We left off with the A25s sighted off Lizard Point at 9pm on August 7th. They actually kept coming east and by 1am (August 8) were in Johnstone Strait. In quick order from there their calls echoed to Critical Point by 1:24am suggesting that these orcas were already well past Cracroft Point. From 3:30am to just past 4am calls continued both closer and further away from the Strider Beach system. The assumption was that the A25s kept going east. It left open the question of whether or not a second A5 group (the A42s by default) were around too.
However, Alex heard calls at 5:26am from another A5 group in Queen Charlotte Strait. It would turn out to be the A23s who emerged from Queen Charlotte Strait, went past Donegal Head into Weynton Pass by 6:39am, continued into Johnstone Strait and finally shifted over to Telegraph Cove.
During this time, the Boat Bay camp watched a group of 8 orcas pass mid strait at 8am. Were these the same group who passed silently through Blackney Pass at 5:26am? Laura heard 7 blows. Boat Bay mentioned there were two males in this group but didn’t give any other information as to identifications. This group would remain a mystery and there were no other subsequent reports. Possibly a group of Bigg’s orcas . . . or?
The A23s were easier to keep track of as they started to go east from Telegraph Cove before 10am. By 10:10am, they were opposite Cracroft Point following the Vancouver Island shoreline. Making good time, they appeared on the Critical Point remote video camera by 10:52am. Rolling slowly past Robson Bight they went in for a rub at Strider Beach at 12:14pm. A43 and A60 were first. Orca Camp, just east of the Ecological Reserve, reported whales milling in front just before 1pm. This is possibly when the A25s rejoined the A23s. A60 and A43 returned to Strider Beach for a rub with the A69s and at least A61 for the A25s joined in. There was a technical problem with the signal from Strider which clouded what happened next. CETUS from the Cliff Research site was able to inform us that all the orcas had left Strider by 2:10pm and were on their way to the west. In fact they were almost to Robson Bight. A60 was mid strait and the others were spread out and foraging as they generally made their way. The calls were only infrequent at this point.
Still with only infrequent calls heard the whales had advanced far enough west by 3:55pm to be heard on the Cracroft Point system as well. By 4:03pm, the calls were only on Cracroft Point. Scotty remarked on A61’s position as being mid strait off Little Kaikash Creek. Even though the calls remained infrequent it was possible to determine that the whales had crossed the area adjacent to the entrance of Blackney Pass at 4:14pm and were continuing to travel west toward Weynto Passage. By 5:19pm the calls were distant and still only infrequent. Calls stopped altogether at 5:45pm when the whales soon slipped into Weynton.
They managed Blackfish Sound by 6:53pm and Alex later reported at 8:31pm that the A23s were nearly at White Cliffs tight together with the A25s behind, also tight together.
While the A23s and the A25s were negotiating Weynton Pass, the humpback Meniscus at 6pm was going back and forth in front of the Lab while Inukshuk was very active offshore. Scotty relayed a report from Wildcoast that a group of Bigg’s orcas were off Strider Beach going west. Scotty could not locate them.
One last unresolved question for the day. At the same time as the Residents heading west in Queen Charlotte Strait, Alex saw a very curved dorsal on a male with two females, and a baby coming past from the north shore of Malcolm Island and staying closer to Donegal.
Not a day with perfect answers to all questions but a very busy and interesting one nonetheless.
