No orcas present. What a surprise! It was a calm and quiet midday. Until 3:35pm - that's when we overheard a transmission about a big male Orca heading south right in front of the Lab. There were no calls, no signs of Orcas heading into Blackney Pass, so it really hit us by surprise! We followed the big male and 4 small fins, which turned out to be Bigg's, on their way south to Johnstone Strait. They took very long dives, so it was very hard to follow them, but at around 3:50pm all Orcas have cleared from our view. Usually Bigg's are not very vocal when they pass by, but at 4:07pm we were lucky enough to hear some calls for a few seconds as they headed into the Strait. In the meanwhile we tried to identify the group of Bigg's and Jared Towers helped us to identify them as the T055's. We were able to follow the T055's for quite a while on our Cracroft Point Camera heading east in the Strait, as they swam inside Sophia's and Barons Reef. Because they took very long dives, we lost them after a while and assume they headed further east. We also need to mention that Donna Mackay passed on a message from Troy, who sad that residents were off Bere Point foraging at around 3:43pm, but are now heading west.  Shari, Megan, Anika, Momoko and Laura 15 Sep 2018 19:04:43 PDT No calls but orcas nearby We have a group of Biggs Orca heading South in Blackney Pass. Follow them live on The orcalab base cam.https://explore.org/livecams/orcas/orcalab-base Megan  15 Sep 2018 15:42:30 PDT No orcas present. The night was again very quiet here, except for the sea lions howling out on the rock, south of Orcalab. Our morning started at 5:15am with some faint calls from the A30's and I15's from the Rubbing Beaches. The Orcas moved very slowly to the west as we could hear echolocation off the Bight at 6:52am and seven minutes later the first faint calls from the A30's. At 7:36am, we spotted at least three orcas, heading west between Sophia's and Swaine Point, mid-strait to Cracroft Island side on our Robson Bight camera. At 7:39am, we heard a lot of echolocation on Critical Point hydrophone but all remained distant. Four minutes later, the group had passed Cliff, continued to the west and at the same time, we were hearing faint calls. Shortly after, we picked up I15 calls on Critical Point hydrophone. At 8am, a group of orcas were visible on Cracroft Point camera, between Robson Bight and Western Boundary, mid-strait to Vancouver Island side, heading west. The whales were very spread out. At 8:27am, we could still hear super faint G clan and A30 calls on the same hydrophone. The group was between Izumi and Kaikash Creek, very close to Vancouver Island shore line, travelling west at 8:34am. A few minutes later, we began to hear faint calls on Cracroft Point hydrophone. Shortly after, we spotted at least 4 small fins closer to our Cracroft Point camera, going west, passed Kaikash Creek. A72 was following this group, between Kaikash and Little Kaikash Creek at 8:49am. Meanwhile we were hearing A30 calls. At 8:53am, we saw a group of 3 to 4 small fins, possibly A54s, passing Cracroft Point, heading towards Blackney Pass, and 2 juvenile orcas were rolling on each other and tail slapping. At the same time, we were hearing faint A30 and I15 calls. Some orcas were still foraging in the entrance to Blackney Pass at 9am. At 9:05am, we watched a group coming into Blackney Pass on Parson rock camera. At 9:11am, they were in the view of the lab, travelling north. The A30s were in lead, followed by the I4s, a group including one sprouter - possibly the I65s and the I27s. The I27s were closest to the lab. At 9:42am, all cleared from the view of Sea Lion camera. Three minutes later, we heard very close and excited A30 and I15 calls from Blackfish Sound. The last calls we heard were at 10:04am. At 1pm, we received a report from Lukwa that the A30s are off Lizard Point, travelling west, and another group is near Penfold also going west. Laura, Shari, Anika & Momoko 15 Sep 2018 13:33:21 PDT Orcas approaching Orcalab. Orcas passing in front of the lab! http://explore.org/live-cams/player/orcalab-base http://explore.org/live-cams/player/orcalab-steller-sea-lion-haulout OrcaLab  15 Sep 2018 09:14:57 PDT Orcas approaching Orcalab. Orcas passing in front of the lab! http://explore.org/live-cams/player/orcalab-base http://explore.org/live-cams/player/orcalab-steller-sea-lion-haulout OrcaLab  15 Sep 2018 09:11:39 PDT