It was just past midnight, the full moon rising over Princess Royal Island, as suddenly with a burst of calls the A36s announced themselves on our hydrophone on Borde Island while the A30s were still audible faintly also. We think that the A36s decided not to meet the A30s in Whale Channel, instead we think they turned around and headed back to Caamano Sound because early in the morning of June 22nd (5:30am) we spotted them approaching Whale Channel, and this time they travelled north. At the very same time, a couple of hundred miles further south, Orcalab starts to listen to the A12s, A4s and A5s in Blackfish Sound, which marks the start for their Orca season. It will mark the first time that we roughly know the location of all the A-Pod whales of the northern resident community on the same day along the BC coast. As the A36s continued to travel slowly against the tide north towards Douglas Channel, the wherabouts of the R's remains a mystery for us.
Cetacealab

We were listening to a R-Clan Orca concert and within the Rs also were the A30s with their distinct N47. The water was very calm, the whales spread themselves out through the whole channel and paraded to the North. We only got a few IDs of them, but enough to make us think that all of the R5s were present. We saw for sure R22,R29,R25 and the A30s.
Cetacealab

The A30s surprised us in the early morning of May 30th, as they came down Whale Ch. Janie heard their calls on the hydrophones while Hermann was out having morning coffee with people in the seaweed camp of Kiel. The A30s travelled right by Kiel much to the delight of the Hartley Bay elders who were already busy drying seaweed on the rocks. We followed the A30s for a little while as they travelled south through Caamano Sound. They were quite spread out with the two big males A38 and A39 in the lead. Then we saw A50, and with her a tiny little calf that was trying to keep up with mum. As far as we know this calf has not been seen before so we are very delighted to have seen this new addition to the A30s. We followed the whales as far down as the Duckers Islands and then turned around as they continued their travels towards Laredo Sound on a beautiful sunny day.
Cetacealab