...ha-ha-ha...yes, I rarely go off island and only if I absolutely must...one time I left the island only 1 time over a 7 year period!
...October 24th - this time I had to go off due to a transmission issue with my car...made the ferry reservation - 5:45a.m. which meant I needed to be there by 5:00a.m.
...I was worried about not waking up to the alarms (yes, multiple) I had set...
...BUT I didn't need to worry because the whales woke me up a little bit before 2 a.m.!
...I heard calls for only 2 minutes...several of what sounded like K Pod calls, one Onyx call, and one L Pod up-tick call...but the absence of J Pod calls had me curious...for the next 2 & 1/2 hours I listened and not a vocalization of any kind...
...I had to leave for the ferry...
...I sent to the Center of Whale Research what I had heard and out the door I went...
...off island...waiting...
...for the 2:40 ferry to come back to the island...I learn that the L54 group - ah-ha! - those were the ones making the K calls - yep, they have a history of doing that...anyway, the L54s had been a good ways north, behind J Pod...they had flipped and were coming back down...
...oh, no!...would I make it to the west side before them!
...on the ferry...I find out the L54s are still far north...but I went to County Park to just sit, after a stressful day...no whales just peaceful...
...that evening I looked at what I had recorded while I was off island and wouldn't you know, 20 minutes after I had left the house for the ferry, the whale began vocalizing - for the next 2 1/2 hours!...and there were the J pod calls...and at the end of them were the L54 group (based on what I was hearing)...so I figured that what I heard at 2:00 am. was them coming across from Discovery...and the 2 1/2 hours of calls they were coming up the west side.
...the next day I learn the L54s were the last to go north and they were 'outside the door' foraging - geesh!...now I know why I don't like to go off island, the whales must know HA!
...well, it was at 5:45 a.m. on the 25th that the L54 group made it to the Lime Kiln hydrophone range...but it was dark, so, so much for that!
...that afternoon a whale watch boat saw the L54 group off the southern part of the island...
...that night at about 11pm a friend heard a few blows, but couldn't be sure if it was orcas or not...hummmm.
...nothing...nothing...nothing...
...then late in the day on Oct 27th, a Canadian whale watch company, way north, somewhere near the Campbell River 'ran into' J Pod (and maybe the L54s?) on their way home. So sweet!!
I haven't seen any of the SRKWs in many days...one of the most fun things I saw from these days of wandering around - on island - is this...
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