April 20:Around 4:30 pm I spotted a blow close to the Texada Island side of Harwood Island. After rushing upstairs for the binoculars and staring out at the water for a while, I determined I was seeing things. That is, until I saw another blow by the reef off of Blubber Bay, where the Texada…
Read more
Guess my intermittent sightings of blows was something! We’ve had Orcas spotted in the Powell River to Vancouver Island area for a number of days. We mostly seem to spot them when they appear to be going in a southerly direction, but I do believe they turn around and are some of the same ones…
Read more
April 18 – No reports today, but again I thought I saw a blow during one of my scans of the ocean….keep looking, they’re out there.There are many Transient (meat eating) Killer Whales along our coast right now. They do seem to be everywhere from the US to well into Johnstone Strait. April 17 –…
Read more
There is a slight change to the email updates which are now going out very late at night so that I can include any evening reports of the day and it will be in your email InBox first thing in the morning before heading out on the water. April 16 – I swear I saw…
Read more
Report in from an Anonymous follower: April 13 – My fiance saw about 100-150 dolphins just outside of Gibsons BC yesterday April 13/2011. Unfortunately I did not receive any information on direction of travel or time of day. April 13 – No other reports from around the Powell River area and no idea where those…
Read more
Apr. 12 – 4 to 6 Killer Whales, probably from the same group of Transients the other day, were spotted between Rebecca Rocks closer to Harwood Island and heading out towards Vivian Island around 5:30pm. Their breaching and splashing gave their position away. From John and Joan From Steve, about his April 11 photo of…
Read more
April 11 – After the report of 5 to 6 Orca coming in my direction yesterday around 12:30 pm, I quickly got a few things organized and headed out to find them with a neighbour. We spotted them rounding Grief Point and were surprised to see so many blows. There were around 16 of them…
Read more
April 11 – Just in…at 12:30 pm 5 to 6 Killer Whales spotted just South of Powell River close to Myrtle Rocks headed Northward. April 11 – 9 am 4 Dolphins or Porpoises spotted by Myrtle Rocks slowly headed in a Northbound direction towards Powell River. Hello Susan;I thought I’d take this opportunity to tell…
Read more
April 8 – “After I talked to you on Friday evening, we spotted a pod of whales harassing a sea lion, just off the government dock on Savary. We stayed with them from 7 pm until dark, and they spent the whole time circling, bumping and smacking a single sea lion. The sea lion was…
Read more
This is the first sighting of Killer Whales or Orca in the area since January. It’s been a long time for them to have stayed away. We can only hope that this sighting report is start of more frequent sightings again. The report came in last night, so I couldn’t even try to find them…
Read more
These two sightings updates below just came in this evening – things are definitely heating up in the sightings department: For a third Killer Whale update comment that is attached to the bottom of yesterday’s post, click here. “Good Day.While flying from Port Hardy to Campbell River today (6 April 2011), 1:20pm, I spotting a…
Read more
I was so excited! Finally I spotted some activity in front of Powell River. Reaching for the binoculars to get a better look, I found myself looking at a couple of sea lions with a few birds. Although they are great animals to watch, my heart sank a bit since there still have not been…
Read more
Mar 28 – This morning I received a report of a couple of Dalls Porpoises just above Desolation Sound around Raza Island. Sounds like they were just foraging for food. The past two days, there are reports of two types of Orca / Killer Whales in the upper Johnstone Strait area. Transient (meat eating) Orca…
Read more
I can finally say we have some Pacific White Sided Dolphins returning to the area! Although it was a second hand report and received only last evening, Some ( I didn’t get any numbers) Pacific White Sided Dolphins joined up with the Comox ferry on one of it’s afternoon runs to Powell River to wake…
Read more
Sightings anyone?There is a distinct lack of activity all along the Sunshine Coast. Even to the point of lack of birds. This Non-Reporting is incredibly unusual for this area and time of year. All I can say is that I hope it will change soon. Our weather has been rather poor, making sightings difficult, but…
Read more
Again it has been very slow around this area, but I wanted to share a wonderful Pacific White Sided Dolphin sighting report and experience from one enthusiast. This encounter happened on March 6th around 2:30pm by Whytecliff Park in West Vancouver: DB wrote: “I was scuba diving and about a pod of 7 came to…
Read more
Even with the snow we had, we did have at least one Orca sighting! See the photo below (you might have to click on the the “Display Images” note in your web browser). This photo originally came to me from the Orca Network, the sightings network recording sightings south of this one. They mostly…
Read more
I appear to be going through whale and dolphin sightings withdrawal. I have seen, or thought I did, a couple of blows a few days ago, but did not see any backs or dorsals of any sort to be able to confirm. It is possible it’s just wishful thinking. The weather has not cooperated in…
Read more
Through all the wind pushing up the seas, the heavy rains, and even the snow, of which there’s still a bit left on the ground, it has been dismal for whale and dolphin spotting. The only animals I’ve seen have been the numerous birds at the feeders. Yes, my Hummingbirds are still around and feeding…
Read more
Although the weather has been up and down, sightings around Powell River have only been of some Sea Lions. Even they seem to be farther away. Work on the Powell River Harbour continues and it seems that the sounds, which carry farther underwater, might just be part of the cause for the lack of local…
Read more
It has been very slow for sightings. Only splashes and a few dorsal fins of probably Pacific White Sided Dolphins have been spotted right through from Jan 31 to Feb 4 th. with the last sighting on Feb 4th around 1pm near Willingdon Beach area in Powell River. The only other bit of information of…
Read more
Jan 30 – 6 to 10 Splashes that were not Sea Lions. Due to the sunshine glare, I could not tell for sure if they were Dalls Porpoises or Pacific White Sided Dolphins, but the most likely would be dolphins. Last sighted close to the Northwest sandbar off Harwood Island and heading towards the Powell…
Read more
Jan 27 – The morning started with 5 Killer Whales reported off the Iron Mines close to Lund at 10:30 am. They were southbound, so I headed out on the skiff to find them. 16 to 20 Transient Killer Whales appeared by Atrevida Reef, on the mainland side across from Hernando Island. They were moving…
Read more
Jan 25 – No sightings to report Jan 24 – 5 Killer Whales, or Orca, were reported just south of Myrtle Rocks, south of Powell River with breaches and splashing around noon. They appeared to slowly be continuing southward. There were numerous Sea Lions which all seemed to rush close in and onto shore, so…
Read more
I had been wondering where the Pacific White Sided Dolphins got to. Normally, at least the past few years, they have been in and around the areas from Sechelt to Cortez Island in the winter months. Last year there were daily sightings of 80 to 100 at a time. I was extremely happy to spot…
Read more
Last evening I received information about Killer Whale (Orca) sightings from the Comox to Powell River Ferry on Jan 11 th. There were a fair number of them, possibly 12, Orca on both sides of the ferry. They were spread out and just slowly milling about mid-strait between Comox and Rebecca Rocks out in front…
Read more
Jan 10 to 12 – Been looking for those Orca, but I’m afraid there’s no reported sightings for this period. There are numerous sea lions around with a fair number of them California Sea Lions. The hummingbirds are happy that the snow is gone and it’s a bit warmer now. I was surprised to see…
Read more
Good news this morning (Jan 8)! There are around 20 Pacific White Sided Dolphins out in front of Powell River. I last saw them at 9am heading towards Willingdon Beach on the North side of the ferry terminal. With limited time to watch for any animals and no other reports about sightings, things have been…
Read more
Welcome to 2011 Bringing in the New Year with calm sunny days is a real bonus. Although cold outside, the sunshine bolsters spirits. By the way, for those interested, I still have 5 Hummingbirds feeding regularly at the feeder. Jan 2: I received information about 40 to 50 Pacific White Sided Dolphins headed towards Desolation…
Read more
What a marvelous way to end 2010. The sun was out, the seas were calm and we had whales in front of Powell River! Over the past few days I had seen some blows and even spotted a couple of dark backs, but with whale sightings, timing is everything, and I could not confirm the…
Read more
