Here is what we believe happened during the wee hours of July 22. The A34s(-A62s) carried on to the west in Johnstone Strait leaving behind the A50s, A54s, A52s, A25s and A62s near the Ecological Reserve still enjoying each other’s as they moved east. Calls continued slowly getting fainter in the Strait but they never completely stopped. The A34s managed to leave the Strait – not sure which pass they chose – ending up heard later in Blackfish Sound at 4:37am. They must have been moving very slowly, perhaps still careful of A55 who continues to show signs of distress, shallow dives, thin, and moving with difficulty. His mother, by all daytime accounts, seems to be very attentive, going back to him when he falls behind the group.
By 5:30am, the groups in Johnstone Strait off the Ecological Reserve had perhaps started a slow shift to the west while A34’s group continued to be heard in Blackfish Sound. By 6:00am the calls of the A30s (A50s & A54s) were getting louder on the Main Rubbing beach hydrophone shortly after A5 calls joined them.
By 8:09am at least some of the A50s made it to Strider Rubbing beach; they rubbed until about 8:40am before the A62s joined them. The A25s and the rest of the A30s were thought to be further away at this time. The rub was repeated at 8:44am by the A62s again. By 10:29am the Johnstone Strait orcas were far enough west to be heard on the Cracroft Point hydrophone. This was followed by a visual reporting of whales along the Vancouver Island shore at Kaikash Beach. After they neared the area adjacent to the Blackney Pass entranceway. Their echolocation announced their intention to come into Blackney Pass. This was achieved by 11:59am. As the Northern Residents made their way north in Blackney, Katie suggested the matrilines present were the A50s, A62s, A54s and A25s. As they approached the north end of Blackney Pass and we prepared for them to clear our view they surprised us by quickly turning south and towards the Hanson Island shore in a beautiful resting line. They moved south in Blackney Pass tight to the Hanson shore before turning at sea lion rocks and crossing over to Parson Island. They then went north again for about 20 minutes before turning south again. They were not in a hurry and did not leave Blackney until 2:10pm for a total of 2 hours after the whales had done these “laps” around the Pass in view of the Lab. As they entered Johnstone Strait they went quiet. Around 3:30 pm there were a couple of calls in the Strait before they went quiet again.
The next event came from the west some three hours later as A34 was bringing her group back toward Blackfish from Queen Charlotte Strait where they had retreated after 5:30am. Troy had seen them as far as Bere Point around noon. They were now travelling close to shore except for A80 who was, according to Olivia, much further out. A34 and A55 were in one of the closer groupings. A55 was surfacing very slowly. Taking their time they reached Blackfish Sound by 6:20pm where they spread out and non directional while closer to the Swanson Island shore.
The others in Johnstone Strait had, in the meantime, slipped toward the Ecological Reserve for a short rub at Strider at 6:28pm. A former OrcaLab assistant Jenn at Naka Creek (east of the Ecological Reserve) saw as many as 14 orcas pass to the east at 9:38pm. This sighting would not account for all of the groups (the A62s, A50s, A54s, A52s and A25s) who had once been resting in Blackney Pass. Some faint and infrequent calls remained on the Strider Rubbing Beach hydrophone until midnight, suggesting that the groups were spread out east of the Ecological Reserve.
