The night was calm, with the A42s and A94 ‘Mystery’ lingering just out of our range in Queen Charlotte Strait. They did not stray too far, as Alex Morton reported them heading towards Weynton Pass in the morning light around 7:40am.
Silently, they made their way east in Johnstone Strait, and surprised us with their unmistakable dorsal fins in Blackney Pass at 10:18am. They were travelling together as a unit, escorted by a couple of boats. There was a lot of tail-slapping and a few pec slaps from the whales – seemingly excited activity but unmatched by any acoustic activity. They had cleared into Blackfish Sound by 10:55am, and slowly meandered to the Plumper Islands just off the northwest tip of Hanson Island, where they would stay for a few hours. Elsewhere, the T060s (Bigg’s orcas) were seen off Beaver Cove heading west.
Finally, the A42s with A94 began to wake up their vocal chords as they travelled back towards us, our Flower Island hydrophone picking up their calls just before 3pm. By 3:30pm they were with us once more, heading back towards Johnstone Strait, making some beautiful and funky sounds as they travelled! We wondered if their apparent excitement and slow progress through Blackney Pass could indicate that other groups were on the near horizon, but that hope did not materialize. Back in the Strait by 4:40pm, we lost sight of them in the afternoon glare off Cracroft Point.
Silent once again, they made their way back west through the Strait and were sighted off Telegraph Cove at 7:30pm.
Only much later, into the wee hours of the morning would we understand that they had stalled once again in Johnstone Strait, finally taking Blackney Pass north to Queen Charlotte Strait.
