September 13 was framed by the calls of the A23s in the early morning and again in the evening.
At 3:28am, the remote system at Kaizumi Rubbing Beach picked up distant calls from the A23s, shortly after they were also heard on the Strider Rubbing Beach system. The last faint calls of the morning were logged at 4:30am, before the whales left the hydrophone network to the east, not to be heard again until later in the day. Meanwhile, Megan reported the A25s still around Quadra Island.
By 6:22pm, echolocation was detected on both the Main and Strider Rubbing Beach systems, announcing the A23s’ return from the east. After a brief pause for a few chuffs at Main Rubbing Beach at 7:13pm, the group moved to Strider Rubbing Beach, where some whales engaged in a rubbing session between 7:18 and 7:26pm. They then continued westward, appearing on the remote camera at Critical Point by 7:49pm. Their faint calls were next picked up at Cracroft Point by 8:18pm, though heavy boat noise soon masked their presence. Between 9:48 pm and midnight, very distant and infrequent calls were detected simultaneously at both Kaizumi Rubbing Beach and Cracroft Point, indicating the whales were still somewhere in the Strait, though once again masked by heavy boat noise. The noise was so overwhelming that tracking their movement became difficult – possibly the whales also fell silent for extended periods in response.
With whale activity low, life on the island shifted to daily tasks: cleaning and tidying spaces, training Lydia and Rich in the Lab and on the boat, and taking care of laundry. Though the day felt quiet, it was a productive one, marked by stormy weather and welcomed rain all around.
Word came late in the day from Dylan that a “mountain” of Northern Residents are over on the west coast of Vancouver Island. Dylan managed to see the I33s, I35s and I68s but was aware of many others.
Words by Freddy
