This day was anything but simple but we will try to sketch out the main events as they unfolded. Right on midnight the A24s brought the G clan groups, who had previously travelled in from the west, into the Strait. Although they had not been mentioned during the previous day some A5s were also part of the procession eastward.
From the calls we tried to imagine how the groups had arranged themselves and speculated that the A24s led those G1 groups identified during the past day as the G17s and G22s closer to the Hanson Island side while the A5s perhaps took the G12s (the G02s, G27s and G62s) closer to the Vancouver Island shore. Later identifications would add the G16s into the mix and the A25s and the A42s as those A5s heard. We would also later learn that the A23s (also part of the A5s) were seen far away in the Prince Rupert area.
After an hour, the Cracroft Point system picked up calls as the many whales advanced eastward but still west of the entrance to Blackney Pass which they would not clearly arrive at until another hour had passed. When they did, the A24 calls became quite clear suggesting perhaps that this group had moved deeper into the entranceway before resuming east.
By 4am, the groups were approaching the area adjacent to Robson Bight. Nearly 50 minutes after that the A5s went for a short three minute rub followed by an eight minute rub in the same locale. Throughout, the groups were making continuous calls as this get together continued to be energetic and on the move. There was also the inevitable boat noise from marine traffic. Calls became fainter as the groups continued east for a while longer and just long enough for the orcas to reorganise their return passage.
By 11am, the western trek had already gotten underway. Three individuals, two large fins, steadily approached Strider Beach from the east. As they journeyed west they did an on the go rub that took them over the beach from 11:02am to 11:04am. Others were westbound on the other side of the Strait. As the whales streamed west they had the Strait covered.
Scotty provided the identification of the A25s who by 11:17am were west of the Reserve.
Our attention was drawn to reports of yet more Northern Residents heading to Blackney Pass from Blackfish Sound. Sure enough at 12:02pm the first group of the I15s, the I4s, travelled through. They would be followed by a succession of two more groups, the I65s and the I16s. As they arrived in Johnstone Strait the groups already there were still making their way west. By 12:19pm the Cliff reported that groups closer to Vancouver Island were now angling toward the Cracroft Point. Shari, along with Sullivan, Jérémie and Justus who were completing the deck job at the Cracroft Point, kept an eye on the proceedings developing from the east to their left and out of the entrance way to their right as whales closed in from both directions. At 12:30pm, Shari saw an advanced group of five off the Sophia Islands. As some of the I15s cleared the Lab’s view at 12:37pm about 20 orcas were passing Kaikash Creek opposite the Cracroft Point camp and another group could be seen advancing from the Sophia’s while others were east of the riptide to the right of the Cracroft Point platform. Whales were everywhere and we were not yet done!
Between 12:49 and 1:19pm, more of the I15s travelled through Blackney Pass headed to the Strait and their community cohorts. Identifications were difficult in the confusion of converging groups but at CP (Cracroft Point camp) the G17s, G39 (from the G16s), the A24s and of course, the I15 groups already mentioned. More than 40 whales continued to move west. By 1:20pm orcas were already nearing the western end of Hanson Island.
Far behind, were likely the A42s, the group to go for a late rub at Strider between 2:21 and 2:25pm. They were acoustically identified when they did a follow-up rub at Kaizumi at 7:36pm. By that time orcas were moving back east. A fission of the groups had occurred in the earlier milieu. The Gs carried on to the west and eventually left via Sointula while the As (the A24s, A42s, A25s) joined with the I15s and travelled back toward the Ecological Reserve with the A42s making that quick pit stop at Kaizumi. The reunion of Gs and As had been brief, fluid and intense.
Just before 8pm, the whales left in Johnstone Strait approached the Robson Bight area. They were close to the Vancouver island side and their clear echo location and calls could be heard as they passed Critical Point. From 8:37pm to 9:15pm the A24s, I15s, and A5s then had a good extended rub at Strider. From there the orcas moved off to the east for a short while before some of the I15s returned to the beach for an additional rub at 9:29pm. Somewhat exhausted by the day’s activities they formed a resting line. Others, still occupied at the Main beach to the east of Strider came back for a rub at Strider at 9:39pm. Accompanied by some Pacific White-sided dolphins the orcas (the A24s+) ended the rub at 9:44pm and moved off to the west.
By midnight the A24s had made it back to the entrance of Blackney Pass followed now by the A5s and I15s. Twenty-four hours had passed since the A24s kicked started the day’s activities by ushering in the Gs. The early morning hours of the next day would reveal more interesting movements.
