Looking at the above list of orca matrilines certainly makes one feel that the summer season has kicked in. Quite the contrast to last summer! We were somewhat in between most of the day’s events which were really happening elsewhere throughout the day. The exception being the T69As who, after passing Double Bay at 6:11am, came slowly into Blackney nearly two hours later at 8:04am. They managed to come halfway before turning and going back to Blackfish Sound by 8:37am. From there they retraced their steps to Double Bay in better time at 9:21am. Their continued journey would take them to the Plumper Islands by 10:04am and off Sointula by 2pm. The exciting aspect of their trip into Blackney was that humpback Argonaut and Dall’s Porpoise were also present. Multiple species being in the vicinity of Hervé’s hydrophone array experiment is ideal.
We had already been teased by the A24s, who had gone east earlier, then distantly vocal from 12:51am to 2:42am. Afterward they slipped out of range retreating even further east. Our time with them would come later in the afternoon when they returned around 5pm. Then their choice was to come west closer to the Cracroft Island shore. The Boat Bay camp saw them pass at 6:40pm. The Strider Beach remote surface camera was able to find their blows when zoomed in. Two cruise ships plowed through the Strait from the opposite direction. No calls were heard in the resulting loud boat noise. An hour later the A24s were picked up on the Cracroft Point remote surface camera and followed west past Cracroft Point, the entrance to Blackney Pass and beyond. They elected to carry on to the west and not come into Blackney Pass. The group of five was still spread out at 8:32pm as they individually disappeared into the distance towards Weynton Pass. There were no calls.
The T69As were not the only Bigg’s group around. At 4pm the T011As and T037As were seen off the Sophia Islands in Johnstone Strait. This was about two hours before the A24s turned up further east. Busy day for the Strait! The T011As and T037As would go on to pass the entrance to Blackney Pass at 4:16pm and find themselves going into Weynton Pass by 5:30pm. They were last seen passing Lizard Point in Queen Charlotte Strait by 7:23pm.
The real excitement of the day had to be the reports from the west. As early as 10am Donna Mackay was relaying information from the Naiad Explorer that at 9:26am there was a large group of Northern Residents off the Buckle group in Gordon Channel. Jared Towers provided the identification of the matrilines present, the G02s, G27s, G62s, G22s and G17s. Jared, on his way further west, would add at 2:10pm that part of the A34s were near the Storm Islands as well. The more precise location of the G clan orcas was described at one point as 4 miles out from Round Island, 3 miles east of Doyle and that they were oriented toward Numas Island. The Naiad Explorer left these whales at 2:43pm. Scotty, on one of the Prince of Whales boats, then picked up the storyline. At 3:12pm he reported that the G clan orcas were between Port Hardy and the northern end of Malcolm Island. He left the G17s 2 miles east of Malcolm Point at 4:21pm. They were making progress and seemed committed to trying for the Johnstone Strait area. At 6pm Kate, at Bere Point, witnessed their passing. By the time they were east of Bere Point the group size was described as being 40 – 50 whales. It has been a while since such a large group has been around. Anticipation in the Lab grew.
We had to be patient. Things, and whales going against the current, take time. When we heard their calls at 9:55pm everyone was drawn inside to listen. But a whole hour would go by before we heard more, just enough to recognise the G12 matrilines. Then silence. The current changed at 10:52pm and this encouraged the orcas to move into Johnstone Strait via Weynton Pass. The A24s perhaps offered their lead as they were the first to be heard at 11:51pm in the Strait.
As we said earlier, today we were pretty much in between most of the activity but thanks to the remote systems and the great people network nothing ever seemed too far away.
