12 April Cetaceanlab reports

There was just a hint of light at 5:30am when we heard our first A Clan call, most likely the A36s. We had been hoping to hear this orca family all night after the report from Marven of A32 being spotted in a diesel sheen. Coffee was made and by the time we were in the boat there was just enough light to see. We headed for Whale Channel as that was the location of the last few calls. Fortunately the weather was perfect, the water sparkled like glass with not even a hint of a breeze. We traveled a short distance north then shut down, hydrophone in the water, waited and listened. Sure enough we heard a blow before we heard a call. They were spread from one side of the channel to the other, foraging and slowly making their way south. We pulled a good distance ahead of them and put the hydrophone back in the water. WOW..A32 came close by the boat and let out a few fabulous calls that vibrated through the hull of our boat then continued to echo through the channel. He looked very strong and healthy after last nights contact with the diesel sheen. How exciting to have a few acoustic examples of only him We always find it so interesting how these boys can be so spread out yet so in sync with each other. For example they can all take a long dive, looking for fish no doubt, which was evident today with all the echolocation we were listening to, then suddenly one will surface and sure enough the other two will follow. Again a few calls and all three took a sudden turn back from the direction they have come from. We followed, back to Whale Channel and did one huge circle. To us it appeared they were following their own water path that they were familiar with, we were just learning. Certain spots along this path probably have a long history of great fishing others perfect to listen for others families that may be in the area. This was most evident today as they had foraged to a location that was open towards Caamano Sound, stopped and listened, almost as if they were expecting company, then turned back. They followed this route through the morning, doing big circles from Whale Channel towards Squally Channel then back again. On the third turn of the routine A32 suddenly did 3 breaches, to see this huge whale completely out the of the water is most inspiring!!We immediately put our hydrophone back down, there were some definite excitement calls, all three boys joined together and began to travel west, fast and on a mission. We followed from the side. Hermann suddenly became frantic, pointing way ahead of us. Blows...lots of blows, no wonder these whales were so excited!! We watched as these two families joined as one. This interaction was very interesting. To begin the 3 brothers came to a stop, grouped up and appeared to just float on the surface, side by side, about 300 meters from the other group. This group, who we eventually were able to identify as all of the A5s, did the exact same thing. Then slowly the A36s made their was towards the A5s and they broke into 2 groups. Three of the young males from the A5 group had joined the A36s, the rest traveled along very relaxed. A51 was there with her new calf, very playful little thing. The two groups were now 300 meters a part on a slow plot towards the south. We left soon afterwards not wanting to interfere with this reunion.