The 16th and 17th brought with them a much quieter pace than the past few days. On the 16th, the A34s and Gs were reported westing off Pine Island around midday, while another group of around ten Northern residents – presumed to be the A42s and A25s – were also travelling west between Texada and Aghykson Islands. By evening, some Bigg’s (ID unknown) were making their way east along the Hanson Island shore, and later that night some of their calls – albeit a bit wonky – appeared on Flower Island amongst humpback and Pacific-White-sided dolphin vocal activity as well. The 17th was quieter still, with A calls on Foster around 10:30am providing the only hint of the Residents that day.
Humpbacks took advantage of the quieter waters overnight into the 18th, with one particularly talkative individual on Flower Island giving the first proper vocal warm-up of the season, continuing from shortly after midnight until nearly 6am. Later that afternoon, orcas appeared on the Cracroft Point camera, travelling west close to the Vancouver Island shore. With no calls, we made the assumption that they were Bigg’s (ID unknown) and sure enough, they disappeared from camera view, heading into a long dive. Humpback vocals returned that night, moving between Parson Island and Flower Island into the early hours of the 19th.
And then, the Residents finally made their way back.
Around 11:30am on the 19th, a large group of orcas was reported travelling east, socialising in several groups as they went. Initial estimates of around 15 quickly grew to at least 20. It took a while, but at 4pm excited A34 and G calls had reached Flower Island and continued for much of the evening as the groups worked their way east. Around 7:30pm, the leaders entered Weyton Passage and by 8pm both A34s and Gs were calling on Strider – they were back in Johnstone Strait.
The A34s did most of the talking from there, although the Gs continued to pop into the conversation as the evening went on. Meanwhile, Spongebob spent part of the evening feeding in front of the Lab, and a vocal, surface-active humpback on Flower Island later filled some of the quieter stretches between the Resident calls in the Strait. Eventually, voices shifted from Strider to Critical Point, where the A34s continued chatting alongside Pacific White-sided Dolphins before falling quiet shortly before midnight.
The strait became quiet once more, closing out a lovely day with the Residents back in familiar waters.
