June 4: 8:45 pm Around 60 or more Pacific White Sided Dolphins were in a foraging / feeding pattern with the occasional leap thrown in at the top end of Texada. They headed into the Strait noses pointed towards Comox. Thanks to the heads up from Steve G. June 4: Email received at 8 pm:…
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It’s been quiet around these parts. The Transient Orca went South and some North-West. The last ones reported haven’t been found in the various channels and inlets. There have been more sightings of the smaller cetaceans such as, Harbour and Dalls Porpoises, and Pacific White Sided Dolphins. Though I understand that there were quite a…
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To start I’d like to mention that I did test the link from yesterday to the nautical charts from NOAA and they only work for US waters. The rest are as blotchy and blocky as they’ve always been, I do not know if downloading it would interfere with the actual CHS charts for Canadian waters,…
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May 30:Another active day today ending with great lighting and a group of Pacific White Sided Dolphins I can still barely see heading West out between Rebecca Rocks and Harwood Island in front of Powell River.Listening to the marine radio today I was quite envious of the whale watchers. The Transient (meat eating) Orca put…
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The big excitement yesterday were the Southern Resident Orca in our area – not a common sight. They were last seen still Southbound aroun 6 pm off Cape Mudge, but nothing today. Today, we’re back to Transient Orca with a couple Dalls Porpises keeping out of their way. Photos for yesterday’s Southern Resident Orca below.Susan…
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The morning started with white caps in the Strait, so spotting anything was difficult. The tours out of Campbell River headed up inlets and into Johnstone Strait in search of the unidentified Orca from late yesterday or the reported Eastbound Orca from 3 am or so this morning. The big surprise was that they found…
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At least some Orca are around our area. Since the report came in late, no-one was left out on the water to identify them. The Superpod of Transients were by the US/Canada border yesterday (see reports below) but could have made it back up here. In addition, there were some Dalls Porpoises, a Humpback Whale,…
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May 25:Hi. I am not sure how to report a sighting.I saw a group of 6 to 8 dolphins in front of Beach Gardens at 6:05 pm today. They were slowly heading south along the mainland coast. They were swimming in various directions as if they were feeding.Bob May 25: 4:45 pm around 12 Pacific…
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May 23: 10 am The 8 to 10 Transient Orca were slowly working their way between Powell River and Texada Island – still on a slow roll Southward. So, headed out with neighbour Steve G. to locate them. They did a number of long dives and continued their slow travel Southward in a zig zag pattern.…
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All day long, the same group of Transient Orca which included T019B T018 and T023 were almost down to Powell River. Although I scanned during the day, not a blow, splash or dorsal was spotted off Powell Rive. The closest they got was around Grant’s Reef, just South of Sentry Shoal. This morning the Whale…
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Today was incredibly quiet after yesterday’s excitement of Transient Orcas and Pacific White Sided Dolphins within minutes of each other. It was certainly not through lack of looking by all the whale watching boats out there. There was an unconfirmed report that the Orca went into Desolation Sound last night, and the Dolphins were headed…
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This report is not last to first but covers today. It’s in time sequence, so do read on: What a perfect day to be on the water! Flat calm and sunny….and whales and dolphins and porpoises to boot! 9 am I heard a report of a “couple” of Dalls Porpoises at the bottom of Cape…
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Here’s a link to some awesome Transient Orca vocalization and video provided by Jen from Campbell River Whale Watching that was recorded on Tuesday, May 17 evening when the whales were just behind Harwood Island, close to Sentry Shoal. Well worth the watch and listen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxnJhUOuAQ4 The water was like glass today and around 7…
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The large Super Pod of Transient Killer Whales didn’t stay very long at the top of Johnstone Strait! All 30 + Orca returned early this morning and stayed all day. Keep your eyes on the look out – they are around. I kept looking today, but they never came as far as Powell River….but almost.…
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For us along the Sunshine Coast, things were certainly quiet today, especially after all the excitement of the huge numbers in the Transient Super Pod. May 16:All 30 + Transient Orca were up at Robson Bight around 9 am. They continued in a Westerly direction then around 3 pm they turned East again heading towards…
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Another day with even more Transient (meat eating) Killer Whales grouping up. Today’s finally tally was Over 30 whales together. Absolutely Amazing! There are still large groups of Transients in Washington State too. Then there’s the debate of the identified whales T20 and T23 that were in two places at once! Many nicks look very…
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htWow! The Transient (meat eating) Killer Whales are everywhere – and in large numbers. From the large group cruising the outskirts of Desolation Sound to the one that were in Vancouver’s Burrard Inlet the other day making an appearance in the Washington State San Juan Islands. Not many reports of anything else though.Susan MacKay –…
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Down in South Harbour, I don’t have as good radio reception, especially at low tide behind the high rock breakwater, so couldn’t hear if any of the boats found the Orca noted below. I did take the skiff out for a short while to drop the hydrophone and scan the waters – just in case.…
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Yesterday’s report didn’t get out to everyone – I’m afraid it may have been my late posting in hopes of having the photos to include with it. Today you should receive both yesterday’s and today’s postings including AJ’s photos, at once. I do apologize for the confusion and the very long subscription report. If you…
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What a busy day! Unfortunately I never got out there, but the Whale watching and Nature tours had a great show in the rain and lumpy Georgia Strait all day today. Read on:Susan MacKay Whales and Dolphins BC May 10:7:30 am Coming out of Frederick Arm (just above Desolation Sound) 20 to 25 Orca moving…
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The weather here was absolutely perfect for spotting whales, calm and sunny, but there wasn’t a single blow seen from my vantage point. The only item from the immediate Powell River area was hearing the California Sea Lions barking when a tug got too close to their haul-out on the hulks breakwater. My location is…
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Happy Mother’s Day to all mothers out there! May 7:At 6:15 pm I received a call from John and Joan T. asking if I could see the Orca. Well, I had just set the binoculars back down, because although I thought I saw something, I couldn’t find anything. After the call I did locate them.…
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Today there were more sightings of Transient (meat eating Killer Whales. Seems like the Transients are working their way around the islands from Desolation Sound down to the US border. Today’s reports were forwarded through Aaron of Campbell River Whale Watching below.Susan MacKay Whales and Dolphins BC May 6:Orca (no numbers I’m afraid) by Sonora…
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What a great day! Orcas, some possibly from G-Pod and Transients as well. As for something different, I have included information on a contest that could win someone a great cruise. Look for it below the Sightings Reports. Please note that for some unknown reason, my yesterday’s post did not go out to subscribers. It…
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I received a huge surprise this morning when I heard about a Northern Resident Pod of Orca known as “G Pod” reported in Washington State May 1st. The report may be off by a couple of days, but my first thought was “What were they doing down there!” This is something quite unusual, but it…
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May 2:My scanning the waters has been intermittent and brief. I thought I saw some blows and movement a couple of times, but not having the time to watch for too long, could not confirm what animals, if any. Even a call to a neighbour to look from a different vantage point did not produce…
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April 30:A few blows and a back of what appeared to be a Humpback Whale slowly moving in a Northerly / North-West direction in mid strait between Sliammon (just north of Powell River) and Harwood. I watched between 10 and 10:30 am then spotted it again, a short distance North, close to Atrevida Reef around…
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April 29:AJ was out on the water today running a water taxi from Campbell River. We spoke a few times during the day with hopes that someone would locate the Orca, thought to be Transient (meat eating) Killer Whales he spotted early in the morning. All my scanning the waters around Powell River produced only…
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With all the excitement of having Northern Resident Killer Whales in our area the other day, I did forget to post the updates from farther south. I also apologize to Roger Jennings who kindly contributed the A Pod photos. In case some of you didn’t catch it, I called him Peter….well, it was a newsworthy…
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More Orca sightings today. The weather wasn’t quite as nice as the other day, but the water was calm. The big surprise is that these whales are from the A5 pod of Northern Resdient (fish eating) Orca. We haven’t seen them around for a while so it’s quite exciting. After the last report, I kept…
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