Boat noise What an exciting day! The Orcas definitely spoiled us today! The T049As continued to the east in the strait, and the T010s made their way further to the west. Jared Towers reported that the T010s had passed Alert Bay to the west at 2:12pm. We started hearing A30 and I15 calls at 2:25pm from Blackfish Sound. About one hour later, we received a report that a group of resident orcas were spread across Johnstone Strait, heading east, coming up to Little Hanson Island. It seemed likely they took Weynton Passage to Johnstone Strait. We then started hearing A30 and I15 calls at 4:02pm on both the Cracroft Point and Parson Island hydrophones. We watched them on the Cracroft Point camera in the entrance of Blackney Pass. The orcas foraged for half an hour then started moving north into Blackney Pass at 4:36pm. At 4:46pm, they came into our view and headed past the lab, with two breaches. We think the A30s were in lead followed by the I15s (without the I65s?). There was some foraging going on and at 6pm, all of them cleared into Blackfish Sound. We kept hearing their calls, and at 6:13pm they were joined by beautiful humpback whale singing. The last calls we heard were at 7:20pm, since then we can hear only boat noise. Laura, Shari, Megan & Momoko 11 Sep 2018 20:59:04 PDT orcas are heading North in Blackney Pass. Watch it live on Explore.org https://explore.org/livecams/orcas/orcalab-base Megan  11 Sep 2018 16:48:57 PDT Orcas (may be) approaching cameras. Some lovely scenes of Orca foraging at CP right now. Watch it live at Explore.org  Megan  11 Sep 2018 16:15:23 PDT No calls but orcas nearby The plot thickens this morning. After the excitement of the Residents passing through Blackney Pass to the North we overheard a transmission from Bill Mackay that Jared on the Merlin was at Dong Chong bay with a group of Bigg's Orcas close to the Hanson Island shoreline heading South towards the lab. We immediately began a recording at 11:45am just in case they became vocal. We waited in anticipation for their arrival at Burn Point and shortly after, at 11:49am, we spotted them. We had just also received a text message from Dylan on Jared's boat that the group was the T49A's including 5 individuals. The group rounded Burnt Point slowly and then quickly went for a deep dive. After what felt like a very long time the group reappeared around Graffiti and looked as if they were hunting for something. There was as usual for this time of year a lot of Sea lions milling around but the Orca or SeaLions didn't seem to bothered by one another and slowly the Biggs's continued south and cleared our view at around 12:10pm. We got the Cracroft Point camera ready to watch them come into the Strait and at around 12:15pm we spotted them in very close proximity to a Humpback whale. A lot of splashing happened and the Humpback appeared to be rolling around whilst one or two of the Orca were close to it. It was then that we began to hear very close clear beautiful Bigg's vocalisations on the Cracroft Point hydrophone. We were all very excited as this is something we rarely get to see and hear. The group left the Humpback whale after a few minuets and at 12:30pm Laura spotted the group rounding back into Baronet Passage on the Parson's Island camera but they quickly changed their mind and headed back into the Johnstone Strait and began to head to the East. We only heard approximately 3 or 4 calls from the Bigg's but it was pretty exciting for us all here in the Lab. The T49A's have now continued to the East on the Cracroft Island shoreline possibly angling out towards Mid Strait. At 12:56pm we received another report from Dylan on the Merlin that there was group of Biggs, this time the T10s, westing in the middle the Johnstone Strait across from Cracroft Point. We found this group of three individuals on the Cracroft Point camera at 1:00pm. We are still watching them slowly make their way west. So it has been an eventful morning and we look forward to whatever the afternoon brings. Megan, Momoko, Shari and Laura  11 Sep 2018 13:18:02 PDT No calls but orcas nearby Bigg's are just coming in into Blackney Pass from the north!! https://explore.org/livecams/orcas/orcalab-base Laura 11 Sep 2018 11:49:43 PDT Distant calls audible. A truly spectacular morning here at the lab. After a relatively quiet night, we heard the A30s clearly around Cracroft Point at 7:35am. They called only for a few minutes before becoming silent. At 8:02am we suddenly heard the A30s again plus some I15s, close to Parson Island. We scanned the pass to the south, and sure enough, from the glassy waters emerged several dorsal fins: travelling north at speed. We identified these as the A30s and I4s, and they were vocal as they passed. They rode the ebbing tide northward, mid-pass, and they cleared from our view by 8:17am. Just as we were reflecting on the beautiful passing, Momoko spotted more fins coming in from the south, very close to Hanson Island! There were loud, excited calls in Blackfish Sound and Blackney Pass as we watched the second group pass. Perhaps only 200m from the lab, the I27s and I16s also sped past us, tail slapping and breaching as they went. They cleared Blackney Pass to the north at 8:28am. We are currently listening to their continued, faint calls in Blackfish Sound. As if that wasn't enough, at 8:48am we were surprised by a huge humpback breach, directly opposite the lab mid-pass. The clouds are still lying low over the surrounding mountains, and a glorious light is shining through over Parson's Bay. Today we say goodbye to volunteers Suzie, Sian & Dylan - what a beautiful farewell! Suzie, Sian & Dylan 11 Sep 2018 09:22:37 PDT We have started hearing lovely Humpnack calls on the Flower Island hydrophone. There is also some Pacific White Sided Dolphin calls on the Cracroft Point hydrophone. Tomoko in Japan also reported hearing some A30 calls. These were also on Flower Island but we only heard a couple of faint calls and nothing else yet. Lets see how the night unfolds.  Megan 11 Sep 2018 02:08:51 PDT