5-6-15 Everyone Was Going Backward!

Wednesday, May 6th
...well, it was worth the wait for some killer whales to show up...I get a call early this a.m. about the possibility of orcas in Open Bay - which is located just outside of Snug Harbor...the other day there was a report which ended up being nothing...even so I had to go and see...
...my vantage point would not allow me to see the whales 'if' they were way in Open Bay...I would have to wait until they began moving out and back into Haro Strait...so I waited and I scanned Haro while waiting...the wait was only about 15 minutes and I saw blows, one male and one female...pretty soon I'm on the boat with Capt. Jim...
...at first we saw two males...one was T49C with the two notches...he is the brother of T49A and the uncle of the other four...the other I thought was T49A1, but where was his mom and siblings?...it was unusual to see him and not the rest of his family...

...it was about 30 minutes before I saw the rest of the family in the distance...
...the next surfacing, one year old T49A4 was tight to mom's side...

...and the next surfacing they were on our other side goofing around...

...T49A2 is once again traveling with his/her family...(this one had been traveling with aunt, T49B, for a few years)...wonder why the switch...

...T49A3 is a young male...

...all day long they were in the area...the funniest part of the day was during a strong ebb current, I saw from shore that the boats were facing up Haro Strait, the whales were facing up Haro Strait, and everyone was going backward!...that actually lasted for quite a while...

...eventually the current changed and the whales began moving up Haro and around some of the Canadian Gulf Islands...
...out with Capt. Jim for a late trip...the whales were still going every which way, slowly...not having to go somewhere special, because they are already home, they were just meandering along...and soon got into a resting pattern...
...the top line of T49A1 is strange looking to me...maybe he has always looked that way...

...we left them in or heading toward Satellite Channel...

...however, with an even larger ebb tomorrow, who knows, maybe they'll be right back down here again - facing the wrong way!