Distant calls audible. Indeed the whales have exited Johnstone Strait and turned up off Blackfish Sound. Orcalab 16 Aug 2019 22:58:55 PDT No calls but orcas nearby Our patience was rewarded after the whales cleared Robson Bight at 3:44pm. A61 together with A72 were amongst the last to head east. Initially, they passed Strider Beach (the Cliff was watching) and some headed to the Main Beach. No really rubs happened but A86 and her little one did a pass by and were seen under water as well at 4:03pm. Afterwards there was a good deal of back and forth offshore. Eventually, four went in for a real rub at Strider while others stayed offshore with some making all the way back to Robson Bight by 4:53pm. Several including the I4s were quite loud and vocal on reaching Robson Bight. By 5:53 all the whales were finally west bound. By 7:10 their calls were beginning to be audible on the Cracroft Point system. However, the whales kept pretty much to the Vancouver Island shore making it almost to Little Kaikash before turning back eastward at 8:40pm. Just after 9pm they were still in the Johnstone Strait area adjacent to Blackney Pass. With only distant calls over the next while it was hard to judge what these indecisive whales had decided to do - certainly not come into Blackney! Now, at 10:30pm the calls have ceased. Have they gone out through Weynton Pass? Orcalab 16 Aug 2019 22:32:49 PDT Superb sounds!! Well, it's been a busy day with two Orca encounters already! We started hearing Bigg’s calls on the Parson Island hydrophone at 7:09am and at 7:16am, we spotted a few on the Sea Lion Rock camera, heading north into Blackney Pass. They were foraging and we think they did a long dive, because we lost track of them and there were no vocals. To our surprise at 7:26am, we suddenly had (?)another group of 5-6 Biggs (1 male, 1 juvenile, 1 baby and 2-3 small fins) - possibly the T49As - come up in the middle of Parson Bay, this time traveling in a tight group against the tide heading south. A small coastal freighter actually turned off their engines, floated backwards, close to the whales, taking pictures! They resumed their travels after a while and the Bigg’s carried on to Johnstone Strait. This group did not vocalize either and exited the pass to the south around 8:04am. On entering Johnstone Strait the Bigg’s headed out toward midstrait. The Cliff then watched them progress to the east. At 9:39am we heard the Resident groups approach Blackfish Sound. It became apparent by the reports that they were committed to Blackfish Sound and Blackney Pass. At 12:23 the a50s,A54s,I4s and A25s were off Double Bay. We expected them to stay on the Hanson Island side as they were in a close group. The tide was in flood so we did not know exactly how quickly to expect them. About an hour later they were in our view surrounded by several boats, some of whom were travelling parallel, behind the whales, and even disappointingly close. The whales stayed in their close formation, at one point squeezed between a tug heading north and the large DFO boat the “Tanu” going south with them. The northwest wind was pretty exercised by this time and after the whales passed CP Megan had to put her camera away! The whales entered the Reserve at 3pm after rubbing at “Kaizumi” at 2:30pm. Now past Robson Bight (3;44pm) we are waiting hopefully to see them on the Main Rubbing Beach. Orcalab 16 Aug 2019 15:59:11 PDT No orcas present. At 9:50pm, we started hearing A30 calls from Blackfish Sound. Some of them came down half way in to Blackney Pass but turned back north. It was very difficult to hear their blows because of the wave sound. At 10:41pm, we picked up I15 calls. At 12:13am, we started hearing A5 calls. The orcas were very excited to meet up in Blackfish Sound. The last echolocation we heard was at 1:22am from Blackfish. Momoko and Emily 16 Aug 2019 02:17:55 PDT