As said in the previous report the I15s reunited with the A24s in the early morning. The A24s were already in Johnstone Strait when the I15s were heard in Blackfish Sound late the previous evening. At 1:13am, Jérémie heard the I15s arrive in Blackney Pass. He heard only a few blows so at this time it was speculated that only part of the I15s had chosen this route. We know from later information that both the I4s and I65s were in Johnstone Strait. There were two possibilities. One, the rest of the I15s had re-entered via Weynton Pass or two, they had slipped in undetected via Blackney Pass.
Their infrequent calls between midnight and 2am made tracking somewhat challenging. But the upshot was that the two I15 groups, the I4s and the I65s, ended up in the Strait along with the A24s who were closer to Robson Bight at the time of their entry.
The A24s, being near the Ecological Reserve, had the jump start on the I15s when beginning a rub at Strider Rubbing beach. They were joined by I15s. This rub lasted from 4:08am and 4:26am and at one point spilled over into the Main Beach. The groups moved east from there. Their distant calls continued to just after 5am.
At 9:49pm the Cliff reported that the groups were on their way back to the west moving between Boat Bay and Swaine Point. This trajectory brought them up to Cracroft Point (10:52am) where they made the turn into Blackney pass by 11:18am. A78 led the I04s and the others followed. They cleared our view by 11:46am headed to Blackfish Sound. At 11:53am the A4s (A24s) called for two minutes but were later heard on the Double Bay system at 1:06pm.
In pretty quick measure after just under two hours they completed a circuit back to Johnstone Strait. We picked up their calls at 4:07pm and the whale watchers sighted the familiar groups off Weynton Island heading into the Strait favouring the Hanson Island side.
The Cracroft Point camp (“CP”) could see them at 2:50 pm after hearing their approach on their remote hydrophone system. By 3:24pm the groups, who had continued to favour Hanson Island on their trek east, were crossing the entrance to Blackney Pass. Here they shut down, stopped calling and formed into a resting line in the warm afternoon. Their energetic circuits had finally caught up with them! Here they drifted, rested on the surface, resumed some calling, and even changed direction. After these indecisive moments and after a bit of foraging they began to orient more toward the east while moving closer to the Vancouver Island side. Calls picked up around 4:05pm. Then around 4:16pm, CP reported that it looked as if one group was now headed west. By 4:26pm all the groups were headed west. They moved in for a foraging pit stop in the rip just west of CP by 4:41pm. Nap time was definitely over, time for afternoon “tea”. Some managed to escape the rip and continue west. The others followed suit by 4:56pm.
But this was not a serious westward push but rather a strategy to get their approach to Blackney Pass right. By 5:30pm they were back in the rip off the entrance to Blackney Pass. This time their calls were very well defined and clear and just before 6pm (specifically at 5:56pm) the first whales came into view of the Lab. This time the order was, the I65s, the A24s and the I04s. The A24s, being the closest to the Hanson side cleared first at 6:31pm, while the I65s on the far side cleared minutes ahead of the I4s who disappeared at 6:42pm.
The groups continued calling as they moved west in Blackfish Sound. A fair amount of echo location indicated that they were also foraging They would continue to be heard until just before 9pm. After which they disappeared to Queen Charlotte Strait for the rest of the night.
