It was a beautiful morning with the fog shifting amongst the hills opposite the Lab and humpback breaths rising in the morning light. The A42 group had been last heard off Parson Island just after midnight. During the early morning hours they must have circled back to Queen Charlotte Strait where Kate reported that they went for a brief rub just before 9am before disappearing into the fog heading west.
We were to have no further news until much later in the day.
Meanwhile, the divers, Megan and Shari accompanied by Claire, got back into the water to adjust Hervé’s Stethorca arrays which had been put in the previous day on the same slack tide. Hervé was now satisfied with the results.
Suzie Hall had organised the busy dive schedule which also included replacement of the Strider hydrophone. The anticipated dive on the Flower Island system however was postponed.
We were very grateful to Janie Wray and Joel Mellish from the BC Hydrophone Network these past few days for providing their assistance, technical expertise, time and effort, not to mention Janie’s beautiful new boat which made it possible to service the hydrophone sites.
Throughout these exercises Jérémie provided his invaluable assistance.
Around 3pm, the Naiad Explorer, following a lead, decided to go west and found Northern Residents in Gordon Channel. Included in this group were the A24s. Later Scotty reported that possible “R” clan members were also there. Bill on the Naiad then later located the A42 group off the Masterman Islands. They were going west leading to the assumption that they were on their way to meet up with the others.
Meanwhile, The Achiever reported the I27s, A54s and others in Beauchemin Channel, northwest of Klemtu,
Nothing in regard to orcas happened here before midnight. However, a humpback at 10:15pm surfaced super close to the Lab. It was very loud on the local hydrophone and the amount of bubble sounds led to speculation about possible bubble net feeding.
This event closed out our day.
