More Transient Bigg’s Orca, Dolphins and Porpoise

Appearing / disappearing Orca again, but a few were seen again. Confirmed were the T18/19B’s and T23’s from today. We still have some Orca in the area, even if the larger group went South the other day. Keep your eyes open. People were looking and yet managed to miss a few, even though they were right in front of their location. They are stealthy sometimes. We also have some Pacific White Sided Dolphins, a few Dall’s and Harbour Porpoise managing to evade Orca. Also some Links that were missed earlier this month showing some pretty neat video of Orca surfing in the wake of a boat. This is not as unusual as you might think, but very special to capture it on video.

Have you seen a whale, dolphin or porpoise?

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

Every sighting report is valuable!

11:35 am Orca in Seymour Narrows Southbound towards Campbell River. No numbers yet.

1:30 pm Another 6 Orca by Harding Island in Nodales Channel just milling.

2 pm We were the last to leave the Orca we first pickup off Campbell River. We left them by Willow Point heading South at a fast pace.

2:53 pm After leaving the first group of Orca picking up the pace Southbound close to Willow Point, we headed up Nodales Channel and found the 6 Orca by Davis Point still milling about. Didn’t stay long with them, but on the way back down found them again, now headed East up the inlet at Sonora Point. Left them again at 4 pm.

Here are a couple pics from our first official trip of the season. We spent approx 1 hr with T018 and T019-19B-19C, as they made there way south with the flood tide. Nice to see this gang, first time this year for us!

10:40 am 7 to 10 Orca cruising from Grant’s Reef to Mystery Reef off Savary Island. There’s 2 Large males and a small one headed SE towards Atrevida Reef or Powell River. 11:34 am they turned North up towards Dinner Rock and Lund close to the Mainland side – now headed out of sight. Stayed down a long time after DFO boat ran up on them.

11:45 am 4 or 5 Orca passed Lund and Sevilla Island heading towards the Raggeds (local name for the Copeland Islands). There was one large male for sure and a calf in the group. Looked like they headed up Thulin Passage.

I got an exciting gift at the end of my birthday yesterday, May 9th, siting a pod of Orcas. We had just crested the hill at Neck Point Park in Nanaimo around 8:00 pm when a considerate man brought attention to a distant pod of active Orcas. They were quite busy, breaching,splashing and diving in the Salish Sea, not close enough to count accurately but it looked like perhaps five. This is only the second siting for us in a 17 months of living in Nanaimo and both sitings have been from Neck Point Park. It was a magical evening with a totally calm ocean surface, the setting sun tinging all pinks and purples and mist rising on the horizon.

Bill and I returned to Powell River on the 4:30 p.m. ferry to Saltery Bay Wednesday. There was a pod of whales, maybe 4, one of which was a male just outside of the ferry terminal. We have not seen any whales on our side of the island since we got here a month ago.

10:20 am 4 Orca at the entrance to Blind Bay (Nelson Island). There were 2 adults and 2 small ones near Fox Island.

12:45 pm Around 15 to 20 Pacific White Sided Dolphins foraging in front of Powell River. I had popped out to find the Orca reported above, but when they turned North, I realized there was no point in attempting to find them. I had dropped the hydrophone in case I could hear them, but only heard some dolphins chatter with the boat noises, so kept scanning and finally found them right outside the harbour! They wake rode a very short time, and continued to forage – there have been a fair number of herring in the area.

2 pm 4 to 5 Harbour Porpoise looking relieved that the Orca had missed them by Willow Point, south of Campbell River.

Yesterday, (May 9) we saw a couple of Dall’s porpoises coming and going between Indian Point and Lund.

Orca Surfing

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