No calls but orcas nearby August 13 2021 Orcas: I4s, I27s,I65s Humpbacks: Geometry, Tag, Stitch, and others We might be forgiven for thinking that the day was going to be two things, hot and uneventful. Right with the first one but so wrong with the second! The I15 groups went off to the west at the end of the day before and it was not until nearly noon that we heard that they had returned and were now off Donegal Head. They did not hurry forward but stayed in this general area for a couple of hours. Our neighbour, Alex Morton commented that when she came home she could see the orcas just offshore. She noticed when they moved back toward Lizard Point and remarked on how relaxed they seemed, spyhopping, not in a hurry, relaxed - like the I15s of olden days. Eventually, these I15 groups moved along to the southside of Stubbs Island and became committed to travelling into Johnstone Strait via Weynton Passage. Jackie Hildering reported seeing a dolphin missing half of a fluke, also in Weynton Pass. The orcas entered the Strait and we finally heard their distant calls starting from 5:17pm when they had already progressed quite far. At 5:34pm we could see them on the remote Kaizumi camera. They headed for the beach six minutes later. We had been aware for some time of a film crew camping at this beach. The beach does not fall under the protection of the Ecological Reserve but this stretch of Vancouver Island is a place where the orcas sometimes come in close to shore. The I15s had, until a short while ago, given Kaizumi a bypass. Unfortunately this day, the film crew decided to take advantage of the situation by deploying their drone and flying it within metres of the orcas. It was unsettling to say the least. The whales too were disturbed and within ten minutes swam away to the east. As we tried to figure out how to report this clear infraction to the authorities the I4s and I65s carried on towards Robson Bight. Gradually their calls grew louder as they approached the Bight by 6:25pm. As they did so we got word that the I27s (the other I15 group that has been in the area of late) were headed east towards Telegraph Cove from the direction of Alert Bay! The I4s and I65s made some incredibly beautiful calls and echolocation from 6:29pm to 7:02pm as they negotiated the Bight and shifted to the east. We had a sense of what might come next. Sure enough twenty minutes later they began a rub at Strider Beach. Very hard to adequately describe the “relaxed intensity” of their efforts. On the surface, below the surface, the whales moved constantly on, over and around the beach. They kept this up for a straight fifty-five minutes. At 8:17pm they took a break and moved offshore and slightly toward Main Beach to the east to regroup. The I27s, to the west of all this activity meanwhile continued east toward Cracroft Point. The second rub for the I65s began at 8:32pm. It was a much shorter endeavour lasting just 15 minutes. Before 9pm, they once again moved away. In the dimming light we found the I4s looking as if they might move to the west but they turned north and disappeared in the fading light across the Strait. As their distant calls now toggled between the two beaches there was a sudden burst of calls off Cracroft Point from who we took to be the I27s who would soon take the initiative and travel through Blackney Pass into Blackfish Sound ahead of the others who were still further east in the Strait. The Boat Bay camp let us know at 10:12pm that they had whales passing to the west. Dante caught the I27 calls in Blackfish Sound around 10:40pm after they passed through and then picked up the calls of the westbound groups soon after. Vanessa at the Cracroft Point camp now excitedly reported about the activity in the night sky and in the ocean. With “shooting” stars above and the blows of the orcas out front Johnstone Strait was lively. Between 11:25pm and 11:47pm the orcas travelled from the Strait into Blackney Pass and then beyond. In other news, Tag, the humpback, made for a special moment today when she went “trap feeding” mid channel in Blackney Pass at 5:26pm. Her wide gaping mouth, impressively large, was turned directly towards us as she gulped down an ever so tasty meal. It all looked so casual belying the skill involved. Even when there were no whales to focus on in the morning we managed to keep busy cleaning & repairing. Kam had her first boat driving lesson and was positively beaming for the rest of the day. Quin worked through the day improving the video/audio mixing and by the end of the day, and when the whales were rubbing at Strider, we were treated to the sound of their blows, tail splashing, as well as, their calls and wonderful movements along this special beach.  OrcaLab 14 Aug 2021 07:49:45 PDT