Month: July 2020

July 2020 #5 – Playtime with Spotlight & Calf!

We moored Blue Parrot on the dock with her nose toward shore. At low tide with a NW wind blowing us towards moored boats in shallow water it’s a bit tricky getting off. We time for a gust to blow Blue P off the dock and pull a 270° turn to head out into Evans Bay. The NW wind sweeps across low terrain on Read Island from Hoskyns Channel, Johnson Strait and Bute Inlet. White caps on the crests of short steep waves rile up the mouth of the bay. Wind and waves blow us around the point all the way into Burdwood Bay.

Baby Breaching!

Terry assesses the possibility of an anchorage for later tonight. “Looks good at low tide here. I think we’ll be OK. Let’s head out.” Blue P angles across the frothing mouth of Evans Bay to the Penn Islands. We’re getting ready to raise the sails when the water suddenly flattens and the wind dies. “Typical” Jude mutters as another attempt to sail is foiled yet again.

All thoughts of sailing evaporate as we spot 2 humpies close to the shore of the middle Penn. They’re moving slowly, making their way around the outside island closest to Cortes. “Sleeping” Terry notes wryly. He notices one of the whale watching boats emerging from Whale Passage and reports the whales. We decide to move a little closer when “What was that? Up ahead – a breach – towards Von Donnop” We hear the WHHOOMP of WHALE hitting Water.  “Let’s Go!” Jude steers Blue P over as the whale watchers speed past.

We approach slowly and cut the engine “Is that a baby?” Terry wonders “Yes! A Mom and Calf! Look! The baby is breaching – she can’t quite make it all the way out of the water” —–“Is this a good position?” Jude calls to Terry who is perched precariously on Blue P’s bow manouvering carefully around the furled jib.

“WHOAH!” Mom is tail lobbing. Half her body is up out of the water. Baby is so close it looks as if Mom is going to land on top of herm – but she doesn’t. “Looks like they’re playing” Terry shouts during a brief lull in activity. He’s performing some fancy footwork to keep the whales in focus as they circle around Blue P at about 100 meters. Their play is so exuberant and Baby’s ingenue breaches are so adorable. Then Mom BREACHES – WHHHHUUMMMPPPP!  The SIZE of HER!! There are no words equal to the AWESOMENESS of a 40 TON WHALE leaping clear out of the ocean into the air. “Sky Hopping” as our friend Martha thought it was called – A much better description of defying gravity!

So special to finally witness a Mom and Calf playing together like this. We are so juiced! We’ve waited 5 years for this moment – and to capture it on film so we can share it with you was worth every minute of boredom and discomfort.

Mom and Calf are moving north. They’re getting farther away as the wind blows Blue P south. Then “Looks like playtime is over. They seem to be resting now”.  Terry observes. “Heads up!” Jude calls. She swings Blue P around in the direction of a nearby cove where half a dozen boats are congregating. “There are a couple of whales over there. Maybe they’ve finished sleeping” We hang around with them for a while but they’re not interested in people. They dive and easily give us all the slip.

Meanwhile it’s getting pretty windy so we decide to head back towards our evening anchorage. Evans Bay has once again erupted in white caps and heavy winds. We angle across the waves, navigating around another whale who is also crossing. “Happy sailing friend”

There are 2 other sailboats already anchored in Burdwood Bay so anchoring is a bit tight. But it’s protected from the NW waves and the gusts will blow us off shore not towards the other boats, so we settle in for the night.

July 2020 #6 – Raza and Harlequin the Humpback Acrobats

It’s morning in Burdwood Bay and we’re up and away before the tide drops too low.  “Let’s head NE again.” I suggest “we can sail to the Penns and check for blows as we go.” I unfurl the jib and we manage a short sail before the breeze completely dies (typical) as we reach the Penn Islands.

We float around scanning the scene but don’t find any whales. Terry notices a whale watching boat speeding out of Whale Passage towards Calm Channel. “Hey! I think they’ve stopped. They’ve probably found a whale” he says “Let’s go over there. I’ll get my camera” I fire up the engine. We head over and start to line up beside the whale watch boat when the 2 whales begin to jump. “They’re coming our way Terry” I yell “I’ll have to get out of the way!”

“A breach! Another breach! A double breach! They’re too close! I need my wide angle lens!” Terry yells. ” Shit! I can’t get them both in the frame. I’m just guessing where they’re going to come up.  I focus on this whale and that whale breaches. I don’t know where to point the camera!”  I find the wide angle lens sitting in the cockpit and run to the bow to hand it to Terry. Then I run back to the tiller to steer the boat away from the whales who are getting closer. “Why is there always wind when we’re with the whales?” I opine.  Blue P skims over the waves past the boats on the other side of the whales. Meanwhile the pair begin to fin slap. They execute a few more breath-taking breaches which we miss because Blue Parrot has sailed away from the action.

This is a perpetual problem with the Parrot ship. She’s a sailboat and the wind moves her even without sails up. And she has a lot of inertia when she’s moving unlike a runabout which will simply stop when you kill the motor. Add to that the joy of an engine with no true reverse. She’s not the easiest vessel to control. With lots of other boats around and whales close to us all my attention has to be on the helm. This means I don’t have time to get my hydrophone into the water to record any possible vocalizing between the whales. I also have a skookum stereo mic onboard but all this takes about 5 minutes to set up. We really need a larger boat with a dedicated skipper to be in charge of it. (This will not be news to anyone who’s been following these blogs.)

“Terry, I’m going to have to turn the boat with the wind. You’ll have to move to the other side.” Poor Ter. It’s hard enough to find a place on Blue P to shoot video that’s not obstructed by shrouds, stays, mast, boom, life lines or other hardware blocking the camara’s view. Then there’s all the buttons and wheels on the GH5 which all have different functions depending on the various positions of each one. It’s too easy to hit one accidentally and shut off something or turn on something else you didn’t intend to turn on – or turn record off altogether – especially if you’re 6’4″ and have big hands. And that’s even before you have to decide which lens to use – telephoto or wide angle? Whales don’t stay in one place for long.  And, if there’s more than one  which whale is going to jump? It’s hard to fit a bunch of whales into one frame. After pondering on that controlling a tender sailboat seems easy in comparison.

Meanwhile Terry observes something on the back of one of the whales  “Are those propellor marks?” he asks. He’s peering through the camera. As the whales settle down Blue P drifts over to one of the whale watching boats. The skipper is Nick. He’s an expert guide who has been on the water for years and can identify most of the humpbacks and orcas individually. “The one with the propellor wounds on her back is Raza” Nick tells us. Later we learn that the other whale may be Harlequin.

Meanwhile half a dozen recreational boaters who have gathered to watch the show disperse into the channel. “Let’s try anchoring in Von Donnop tonight – we’re already here” Terry suggests. “It’s Saturday night – do you think there’ll be space?” I ask “There’s lots of anchoring space all through there ” Terry responds. “OK, but I need a swim first. I’m so hot. I’m going to head into the calmer water and jump off the bubble boat.”

40 minutes later I finally exit the chop of crisscrossing currents to find calmer water. Since the evening wind will probably come up again soon I jump into the ocean for quick frigid dip “EEEEEE!”. I haul out to let Terry have a turn. Terry perches on the edge of the bubble boat gingerly splashing his too HOT skin and ruminating on whether he’s up to getting in when “Hey Ter, there’s 2 whales coming up the channel. They’re headed this way – maybe 150 meters.”

PLOP! He’s in like Flynn! – no hesitation – splashing his long arms like fins to attract the whales. “Take a photo of me with the whales” Terry yells moistly. I drop into the cabin and grab the camera – but the whales aren’t cooperating. They just keep on truckin’ past us up the channel.  Oh well.  We amuse ourselves shooting video of Terry fin slapping and being a whale in the water with the magnificent mountains as backdrop.

Then the wind comes up and it’s a wild ride into Von Donnop with the wind on our heels.