A38, Blackney

Very nice day on the water. Much of the day the fog lifted up the hillsides so you could see the scenery. (Yesterday was very flat; you could see the water, and animals on the water, but usually could have no idea where we were unless you darted down below and looked at the electronic chart displaying a little marker and line of travel at the boat's position. Hooray for electronics.)

We found the A30s pod of orcas, waited for them just outside the ecological reserve. There was a little bit of hydrophone action: the A30s were briefly vocal and we got to hear them, while the Naiad bobbed around and the pod slowly came toward us. (I do love the sounds best, even when the sights are coming in through my eyes). There was more than a little showing off on the part of Blackney and Pointer, people with the skills to aim their cameras and push the buttons at the right moments got good pictures.

Then 18 of us were dropped off at OrcaLab for a visit and tea, Paul & Helena very welcoming and golly what a beautiful spot. On the return run, a brief visitation from some Dall's porpoises, which my new book calls 'exuberant cetaceans'; ooh truer words never written: they zipped, they bounced, they turned over and flashed their markings, they jumped, they vanished, justlikethat. Then we came back in via Weynton Passage, gazing through all those narrow waters and openings among the Plumper Islands, which as scenery goes might be my most favorite up here. Unutterably beautiful.

Blackney in Johnstone Strait

Weynton Passage