Quite the stormy night in Gorge Harbour! A stiff SE gale blew up and one of the anchored cruisers dragged and picked up another cruisers anchor yanking 250ft of heavy chain with anchor attached all around the harbour at 3am. Inches away from smashing into other boats at anchor – people out on deck yelling and dropping fenders over the sides of their boats to protect them. It was mayhem. Not much sleep for anybody.

Finally the wind calms and we run the gauntlet of moored boats out of the harbour. Terry is listening to the VHF radio for any news of whales.”15 Humpbacks out here off the scallop farm” reports one of the whale watching boat captains. We spot 2 whales traveling south as we exit Gorge Harbour. “I don’t see any whale watching boats” Terry says “Oh, now I see them – close to the shore of Quadra. I’m seeing backs and blows – one, two, three, four whales over there. Five more further over. Three close to the spit”

It’s a Wealth of Whales! There are 3 groups all feeding in the same area. They circle around all the boats that have come over to admire them. Four pass very close to Blue P. Seas are calm but boat wake makes video next to impossible. Jude drops the hydrophone to record any communications that might be happening between the groups of whales. There doesn’t seem to be any  vocalizing going on  between the groups – at least anything audible to human ears. However the whales that are closest to us are feeding. Jude hears a burp/burble – several burps – hilarious! We float with this group for a couple of hours in the heat of midday and hear thunder to the west of us rolling across Campbell River.