Come the midnight hour there were humpback sounds on the Parson Island system and a bit later I15 calls on Strider along with dolphin chatter. The calls on Strider stopped at 1:25am. Come 3:50am there was some echolocation followed fourteen minutes later by I15 calls with dolphins again. A series of short, soft, gentle rubs began at 4:51am, 5:06am, 5:34am and 5:47am. There were both I15 and A62 calls. Seemed like everyone went east.
However, Scotty, going as far as Naka Creek, did not come across anyone. His attention was drawn back to the west where at 10:10am we were hearing the A54s and I15s around the far end of Blackfish Sound. Alex kept us informed about what she could see.. The A54s, Alex remarked, looked like they were “coming in” from Queen Charlotte Strait while others mid Blackfish were oriented to the west. A bit later, she thought the A54s were generally coming our way, they had foraged in the kelp below her house, the kids were playful, someone was far out in front of the main group. A radio report commented that whales had entered Weynton Pass an hour before. Alex figured these were different from the ones she was watching. The ones in the middle of Blackfish were headed toward the “rowdy” A54s. By 10:54 the A54s, according to Alex, were travelling on the west side of the Plumpers. Scotty, now on scene, pegged the A54s and I4s going into Johnstone Strait by 11:34am. He then added the I65s and I27s. By Noon all the Residents had entered Johnstone Strait. By “all” he meant the A54s, I4s, I65s, I27s and the A62s. The I16s were not mentioned and that turned out to be significant.
This had us wondering again about the early morning rub at Strider which had both I15 and A1 calls. We took the latter to be the A62s who must have managed to get back west from the Ecological Reserve in time to reconnect with the A54s etc.
The description of the next few hours was pretty easy. The orca families in question swam east after entering Johnstone Strait. By 1pm, they arrived at the heavy riptide west of Cracroft Point foraging. This activity would preoccupy them for several hours.
The missing I16s, meanwhile, had been spotted around 2pm near Hickey Point, opposite Port Neville in lower Johnstone Strait.
Back further west one of the other I15 groups broke free of the rip and went east to Strider for a brief rub at 5:29pm. The A54s followed and entered Robson Bight around 6pm. Others were still closer to the entrance to Blackney Pass.
The presence of the A54s near Robson Bight perhaps encouraged the I15 group who had been at Strider to come back. On their way west they had a minute rub at 6:57pm and joined the A54s in the Bight by 7:31pm. Together these families left the Bight and travelled to Strider where there was another brief rub followed by faint calls. A few calls heard on Main beach suggested that they went east for time being.
Horrendous boat noise buried any subsequent distant I15 calls and no further calls would be heard after 10:50pm. It had been a rare day that saw no orcas pass the Lab.
Blackney Pass was still lively though. Dolphins, who had come very close to the Lab in the morning, passed by again north to south just after 11pm and a closeby humpback paced back and forth under a beautiful waning full moon bringing conclusion to the events of this day.
Of note: the harlequin male ducks who have been back for a while have finally dawned their winter plumage and the sea lions have begun in earnest to haul out on the local rocks.
