Minke Whales, Orca, Pacific White Sided Dolphins

Orca seemed to pop up all over the place, but not today. Report from the North Coast may have been Northern Resident Orca that were known to be up that way. Minke Whales, Pacific White Sided Dolphins and possible Porpoise round out this report instalment.

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2:50 pm 4 Orca just popped up heading to Grief Point, Powell River Southbound. Definitely 1 big male.

Around 2:45 – 3 pm 8 or more Orca were heading Southbound towards Grief Point in two groups. There were two big males. We were walking along the Powell River Sea Wall and didn’t take binoculars or camera. They were moving at a steady pace.

3:25 pm Sounds like it might be the T018’s/T019’s off Grief Point, Powell River. Brother-in-law said Southbound.

Around 9:45 am Report of small fin Orca at Gypsy Shoal in Okisollo Channel Westbound from water taxi. Apparently 1 large fin in group.

1241 pm Found Orca at Brown’s Bay Southbound mid-channel.

1:50 pm Orca now at April Point, Discovery Passage doing 9.25 knots by Quathiaski Cove.

2:41 pm They did a split with T019B heading towards Shelter Point and T018’s by the red can buoy (bottom of Cape Mudge area). Left T019B 2 miles off the beach by Shelter Point at 2:58 pm still Southbound.

12:39 pm T018’s/T019’s Southbound by Brown’s Bay mid-channel.

11:22 am 3 Orca inside Okeover Inlet (behind Lund- SM) 1 big fin, two smaller. They’ve been in Okeover Inlet for around 1 hour so far. They’ve gone all the way to the head of the inlet. Not the same ones as Monday, 17^th (see report below).

1:28 pm Orca now by mill, Discovery Passage

Kurt Staples, Campbell River Whale Watching

3 pm Leaving the T018’s still Southbound still angling towards Mitlenatch.

3:54 pm Orca in Tenedos Bay, Desolation Sound

10 am Orca just rounding Grief Point from sport fishing boats on radio.

10:42 am Orca Northbound towards Powell River mill doing long dives. Only saw them a couple more times closer to Atrevida Reef.

10:30 am 2 or more Orca; 1 big male in front of Westview, Powell River Northbound.

1:14 pm Just spotted 2 Orca west of Vivian Island off Harwood Island heading west, didn’t look like they were in a hurry, just cruising along.

9:30 am 6 Orca Southbound by Harwood spit, off Powell River. I’ve attached one image from this morning’ sightings. The rest were too blurry because the boat was bouncing around quite a bit. I’m pretty sure there were 6 Orca in total but they cruised by my boat fairly quickly and I was scrambling to find the camera. Looked like 2 males and I didn’t see any small ones. No salmon today, not even a bite, I guess jelly fish don’t count.

June 18:

9:45 am Why do Orca always stop behind a tree that’s in my line of sight? Once they cleared the tree, I saw them hug the Harwood Island shore angling towards Rebecca Rocks, then cut across to Texada after the ferries had cleared. I lost track of them by the Blubber Bay light where they were resting for a while. I counted 6 Orca too.

11:10 am 5 – 6 Orca Whale Channel side of Penn Islands Southbound.

11:41 am Orca by the center top Penn Islands.

12 pm Orca still Southbound and hunting at the bottom of Penn Islands. 10 Orca confirmed including 3 big fins.

12:43 pm Hill Island, Sutil Channel resting, travelling and some hunting. They turned North. T018’s, T019B, T019C and others.

3:16 pm Orca close to Baker Pass heading towards Mitlenatch about 5 knots.

4:28 pm Left Orca 3.5 miles North of Mitlenatch slowly Southbound.

8 pm 5+ Orca came into Okeover Inlet. One big male had a curved fin. They were in the Inlet till dark.

ID’s from yesterday are the T018’s/19’s/23’s and T121A (same as May 31^st off Storries Beach)

Believed to be the Northern Resident Orca spotted up that way, but unconfirmed – SM

June 16:

6:30 am Orcas near Bella Bella. While trolling, I observed a small group of Orcas in Lama Pass, 6km south of Bella Bella, at about 6:30 am on June 16. Two were close together and had small dorsal fins and the third, with a very distinctive, tall, inverted V shaped dorsal fin, stayed quite apart from them. They came up Lama Pass from the southeast and appeared to retreat back in the same direction.

I heard from two other sources that large pods of Orcas were sighted in Seaforth Channel, west of Bella Bella, on the 16th and 17th – from 10 in one sighting to 25 in another)

June 15: (rec’d 18th)

We had two Minke whales Saturday June 15, around 2pm, off Salmon Bank off San Juan Island.

11:40 am 20 PWS Dolphins in Okisollo Channel heading to Discovery Passage.

2:45 pm 15-20 Dolphins by Kanish Bay.

3:30 pm Large group of playful PWS Dolphins by Walcan (Campbell River)

4:15 pm 30 about PWS Dolphins off mill (Campbell River)

12:09 pm Just leaving 10 PWS Dolphins milling by Elk Bay.

4:30 pm 30 PWS Dolphins at Orange Point, Seymour Narrows. Quite playful, just left them.

3 pm 20 Dolphins in Nodales Channel.

4:25 pm 40 to 45 PWS Dolphins between Rock Bay and Chatham Point foraging. They had come out of Nodales Channel about 45 min prior.

3:44 pm 8 PWS Dolphins Southbound slowly at Whiskey Point, just South of Quathiaski Cove. They’re running about 200 meters off the beach.

10:10 am 6 PWS Dolphins by Denham Island.

12:44 pm 6 Pacific White Sided Dolphins at Subtle Islands, Sutil Channel by Whaletown, Cortez Island.

10 am Some Porpoise at Sonora Point, Nodales Channel.

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

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