Summary for September 16th 2019: A42s,I15s, A23s, A25s, possible A54s and I65s In the late evening of September 15 the whales continued to call in Johnstone Strait on the Cracroft Point hydrophone system. Still very distant at first but then around 10:00pm A5 and I15 calls became a little clearer. At 11:33pm, we heard some sporadic humpback grunts and gurgles on the CP hydrophone while Suzie and Alicia soon reported hearing breaching sounds outside the CP camp in the dark. At 12:14am we started a recording after hearing faint G clan calls again on the Cracroft Point hydrophone. 15 minutes later there were A5 calls along side the still distant G clan calls. The impression we had was that the whales were moving very slowly around the Strait, seemingly still in no hurry at all. At around 12:45am the calls became more mid range in strength so we thought that perhaps they had finally made the decision to turn and head back to the east. Then the calls stopped around 1:41am. Distant calls picked up again at 3:40am. The whales were now in (or almost in) Blackney Pass. Our tracking abilities were compromised somewhat by a tug boat, followed closely by two consecutive cruise ships coming through Blackney Pass heading north and flooding the Pass with a huge amount of noise and crashing waves just after 4am - impossible to hear any blows. Luckily, faint calls became audible on the local hydrophone. Through the din we determined that the whales, like the boats, were headed north quickly through Blackney Pass. By 4:27am, Quinn and Shari were hearing A5 and G clan calls in Blackfish Sound just to the northwest of the Lab. Faint calls could still be heard when Karien took over for the morning shift at 6am. At 6:43am Shari saw four Cormorants on the steep rock wall on Parson Island poking their necks out of the crevasses assessing the dawning day. And across on our side of Blackney Pass we counted 61 Sea Lions on their haul out rocks. They really do seem to have settled into their winter routine of sleeping, eating, pushing each other off the rocks and then sleeping some more. At 7:52am we began to hear A5 calls in Blackfish Sound. They sounded pretty distant, and just before 8am we determined that I15’s were still with the A5s. On the VHF radio Eagle 53 reported that orcas were off Stubbs Island (north Weynton Pass) headed towards Donegal Head. The whales who had been in Johnstone Strait the day before were now committed to going onward to Queen Charlotte Strait. From 8:08am we heard some A5/I15 calls very sporadically until around 8:45am when they passed out of our range. By 09:25am the orcas were now off the White Cliff Islets and continuing west towards Fife Sound. We, meanwhile, spent most of our morning enthralled by the sleepy goings on at Sealion Rock. However, not all the sea lions were on the rocks, several were still in the water and we witnessed one thrashing about just off the Lab. When we investigated further using the remote Lab camera we realised he was gulping down a large octopus with flailing tentacles.. At 11:23am Knight Inlet Lodge reported that the generally westbound orcas were now resting off of the Penfolds. At 12:46pm we got the welcomed news from Jared Towers that the A23s, A25s, and perhaps the A54s and the I65’s, were slowly westing just off Lizard Point. These groups had not been around for a while and had probably returned to reconnect with the others. Kate Brauer, at Bere Point on Malcolm Island, saw a breakaway group of orcas come in for a 20 minute rub then continue westward. Meanwhile, at the Lab the reality that the orcas were probably not interested in returning to Johnstone Strait anytime soon began to dawn. But the day was not without events. At around 15:4pm Shari began to hear a humpback in Blackfish Sound. After gearing up for a little while he burst into a fantastic song for over 30 minutes. There was very little boat noise and it really was a joy. A lovely end to Shari’s time at the Lab as she is scheduled to head back to the UK for the winter. She will be greatly missed by all and we look forward to her return next year. Karien headed over to CP for the evening, trading places with Alicia. Wonderful roofer, carpenter and handyman Mark McCallum, his partner Lexi, and their son Arther arrived in the late afternoon. This was Arthur’s 3rd birthday and we soon sat down to dinner followed by celebratory chocolate cupcakes decorated with candles, strawberries and whipped cream! As darkness set in we hoped the orcas would return soon and that we would hear their calls through the night once more! OrcaLab 17 Sep 2019 09:39:44 PDT