Cetaceans Everywhere!

Lots of Cetacean activity. This is a long report due to lack of time to post yesterday. Any Volunteers to help out with compiling reports? Report includes Transient Bigg’s Orca, Pacific White Sided Dolphins, Dall’s and Harbour Porpoise and a Link in the News about a Humpback Whale collision with a boat. Reminder again to keep eyes open when on the water.

Have you seen a whale, dolphin or porpoise?

Call 1-877-323-9776or Emailyour report.

Every sighting report is valuable!

Transient Bigg’s Killer Whales

May 18, 2013

9:02 am Orca are Southbound past Brown’s Bay right now.

10:10 am Leif left the 4 Orca mid channel in front of the marina Southbound going about 8 knots.

12:18 pm 4 Orca a mile off shore parallel of Saratoga (south of Campbell River) heading South.

8:50 am Orca off the fishing hump by Wilbey shoals – Cape Mudge Northbound. Two big bulls for sure, maybe more.

11:25 am Orca now right outside of Discovery Marina, Campbell River.

12:05 pm Orca just passed Painter’s Lodge.

2:24 pm 4 Orca total 1/2 mile back from Brown’s Bay. Includes T63 (Chainsaw) and the T65’s.

4:38 pm Picked up the 4 Orca again on the way back. They’re still Northbound by Chatham Point doing about 7 knots.

2:24 pm 5 – 6 Orca by Cortez Bay, between Hernando and Cortez Islands – 1 large, 1 medium and 2 smaller.

2:54 pm They headed through Baker Pass and are now by Marina Island.

2:40 pm 2 Orca not too far off the Hernando Dock.

4:15 pm 4 Orca including T19B are still Northbound about 1/2 mile off the beach by Marina Island. Just leaving them in Sutil Channel.

I was at the park at Grief point yesterday (May 16) at about 3 p.m. First I saw a BIG Orca, then 3 fins to the south west about mid channel, maybe porpoises, and then what I suspect was poor little seal, very very close to shore in front of me (maybe 150 ft. away), staying as low in the water as possible and every once in a while coming up for a breath of air, the tip of its nose barely out of the water. It worked its way toward Beach Gardens, and hopefully found its way to safety among the boats anchored there. Two pairs of smaller smaller orcas, maybe 5 minutes apart, followed. In mid channel there were two boats, one big zodiac and an aluminum boat which I wondered, was that one yours? (No, I was too busy to get out on the water – SM) I hope the seal is still alive. Quite a drama.

We saw T 63, affectionately called Chainsaw among us around Victoria. 😉

He was seen traveling with the T 65’s , three of them on May 16th, 2013 at 2pm, heading along the shoreline of Saturna Island in Boundary Pass.

5:11 pm 4 or 5 Orca have been in and Greensea Bay, above Campbell River around 45 minutes. They’re headed to Elk Bay now.

5:30 pm At least 3 Orca out from ferry terminal in Powell River. Noticed that the sea lions had been barking a lot and suddenly stopped when the Orca came closer.

5:40 pm After Leah’s call, I finally saw 5 Orca when they came out from behind a tree that has grown a bit too tall from my vantage point. There were 1 or possibly 2 big males. Looks like they’re VERY slowly Northbound.

7:32 pm These 6 Orca by Powell River are taking their time. They’re just now half way between Harwood Spit and Atrevida Reef, still Northbound.

8:30 pm (time approx) last blows reflecting in the sunset angling towards Mace Point or Mystery Reef, Savary Island.

6 pm 4 Orca Southbound by Brown’s Bay, Campbell River area.

6:19 pm 6 or possibly more Orca just off the Harwood (Powell River) spit. There’s definitely, at least, 1 Male and 1 Juvenile. They’ve been rolling around and lots of tail slaps.

10:18 am large group of PWS Dolphins at McMullen Point, Seymour Narrows.

12:55 pm Scattered PWS Dolphins reportedly in Ramsay Arm, lower Toba Inlet area.

7:50 pm 4 Dolphins right in Finn Bay, off Lund.

Hi, this is Robin on the Lora Jan. At about 5:50 am we saw a large number of pacific white sides dolphins about 5 minutes straight out of the Westview harbour. I would estimate there being around 100 and they were travelling north.

There were 2 small groups of dolphins this morning at 7:55 swimming through Lang Bay. I hear there were dolphins at Grief Point before noon today. I saw some funny activity yesterday about the same time, wasn’t sure what it was but in the end, I think it was fish about 18 inches jumping in a tight group. I kept watching to see if there were a seal, sea lion or dolphin chasing them up but didn’t see anything right then. A seal did swim by quite a bit later.

9:52 am between 100-150 PWS Dolphins foraging off the Westview, Powell River ferry terminal. They all grouped up and looked very undecided as to direction (based on the Orca reports above; little wonder)

11:03 am They would fast forage and turn to feed on the fish they chased staying for many hours right out in front. Darn, no time to go out with them!

11 am About 100 Dolphins in mouth of Bute Inlet.

11 am 100+ PWS Dolphins just out in front of Westview, leaping and running back and forth.

2 pm I’ve been watching those Pacific White-sided dolphins for about 3 hours now and followed them down past the Beach Gardens just before noon. It was raining so hard I didn’t even get the camera out. They headed back north at that point and by the time I got home and ate lunch I could see them again so I went back out and got a few shots from the shore. Image 4 has some sea lions heading out to join the pod for some lunch. A friend of mine and I watched from the safety of my dining room with the spotting scope around 11:00 am and saw a lot of jumps and a very impressive high speed run of the whole pod. Christa was pretty excited to see these beautiful animals putting on a show. Must be a lot of food around for them to stay here so long.

Somewhere around 150 or so Southbound towards Grief Point………..Friday May 17th, 11:30 And now they are Northbound, from the foot of Penticton……….I think they lost their map. May 17, 12:30

1 pm Large group of Dolphins just out in front of Powell River leaping all over the place.

1:53 pm Just watched a pod of PWS Dolphins that were quite spread out and moving quickly south from Westview Terminal. It looked like a pod of about 50 all in with the stragglers…. Hardly breaking the surface.

2:13 pm 150 PWS Dolphins milling about and really spread out wide by Fawn Bluff, Bute Inlet.

11:45 am Just got a quick glimpse of about 10 dolphins just off Pebble Beach near Myrtle Rocks, Malaspina Strait. I guess they were feeding as they suddenly
charged about and dived, then came up slowly and charged around and dived
again. They were heading north in a hurry. Sorry, not much of a photo, but
best I could do.

2:12 pm 6 to 8 PWS Dolphins by Cooper Point in Okisollo Channel Southbound towards either Beazley Pass or Hole in the Wall.

2:47 pm 50 to 80 PWS Dolphins in Bute Inlet by Lawrence Point.

4 pm Just left the 60 or so PWS Dolphins milling at Henrietta Point in Bute Inlet.

Garry Henkel, Aboriginal Journeys Whale Watching and Grizzly Bear Tours

5:36 pm Big group of PWS Dolphins in Bute according to folks here. Didn’t see myself.

6 Dall’s Porpoise bow riding by Jimmy Judd Island in Gillard Pass.

1:48 pm 3-4 Harbour Porpoise by Greensea Bay, just above Campbell River. They disappeared pretty quickly. (This is usual for these small usually boat-shy Porpoise – SM)

During our tour around Mitlenatch Island we saw two Steller sea lions with brands. One Steller Sea Lion has 952R branded – photo submitted – the other was lying on the branded side so couldn’t see the number.

I asked Jos, Eagle Eye Adventures when he was out by Mitlenatch to see if he could see the other number – it was 693R. Photo was to follow.

Dead Sea Lion with no obvious signs of trauma at Horn Point.

Breaching Humpback Whale causes injury to boater and maybe him/her self.
http://www.theprovince.com/technology/environment/undergoes+facial+surgery+after+breaching+humpback/8405734/story.html

Canadian whale watching guidelines details click here or go to the Links Page on the main Web site.

Have you seen a whale, dolphin or porpoise? Call 1-877-323-9776 or Emailyour report. Every sighting report is valuable!