Puget Sound Orcas

[dotnmarty]

Interesting article about missing Orcas

http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2008/oct/23/seven-puget-sound-orca-deaths-attributed-to-lack/

[localboy]

I was shocked once when I went out onto Lake Sammamish with our marine unit. The amount of tribal nets across the river inlet was amazing. Not being from here I had no idea the rape & pillage they are freely allowed to engage in.

[thataway]

How territorial are the Orca? We saw good runs of salmon in the Campbell River area at the end of July. Wonder if the Orca move up and down the straits to take advantage of the various runs?

[Grumpy]

Bob,

The Puget Sound Orcas are arguably a specific sub group which are resident.
More info at
http://www.orcanetwork.org/

Merv

[journey on]

I believe there is a pod of Orcas in Johnston Strait. There are boats patrolling their territory for a keep out zone, though it's not marked on the chart. If there's salmon up there, I wonder how they're doing?

Boris

[blackfish]

if you are referring to Johnstone strait at the north end of Vancouver Island
there are around 10 pods that make up the northern residents
they range from Campbell river up to the queen Charlottes

they are doing better then the southern residents ( pods in Puget Sound )
more people and pollution in the south I would guess , but the fish farms and decline in the salmon runs have hurt they numbers.

the boats patrolling their territory are strait watch , for the most part university students and there is a keep out zone at Robson bight just south of telegraph cove other then that just follow the rules laid out by the folks at strait watch.

[journey on]

Blackfish,

You wrote:
"the boats patrolling their territory are strait watch , for the most part university students and there is a keep out zone at Robson bight just south of telegraph cove other then that just follow the rules laid out by the folks at strait watch."

I've always wanted to find out more about the keep out zone, so I can avoid it. My charts didn't and still don't show a keep out zone in that area. How do they define the limits for the pleasure boats, let alone the cruise ships and tugs? Do they just tell you about them when the students are there? I certainly don't object but the process seems a little random. Are the students there just during the summer? Where are the Strait Watch rules posted, for a mariner?

Boris

Boris

[blackfish]

the only keep out zone I'm aware of is the Robson bight ecological reserve its across from west Cracroft island in the Johnstone strait , closed to all marine traffic you will see it on your charts.
if you go to www.straitwatch.org you will find the guide lines for viewing the Orcas basically don't cut them off, chase them down and turn your motor off
we always try to make like a piece of drift wood
I believe the strait watch program is closet now for the off season
up there, not sure about their southern program.

the girls we meet every summer are university students not a bad job
driving the zodiac around the strait counting whales .

[blackfish]

journey on

so do you boat all the way from California or trailer up the Island?
the Johnstone strait is a incredible stretch of water
the scenery and marine life it really has it all.

[thataway]

Thanks for the information on the social groups of the Orca. They are reported every year or so in the Gulf of Mexico. Interestingly here the pods seem much smaller--only a few members.

I had a sad experience this summer. My daughter and grandchildren were visiting and wanted to visit the dolphin show at Destin, FL. Here were 3 dolphin which had spent their entire life in this pool about 50 feet in diameter (give or take)--and looking out from the bleachers were free swimming dolphin in the surf of the Gulf of Mexico.

I had to chuckle at the idea of running the boat up from Calif. Since we have a hailing port of San Clemente CA, that was the most frequent question we were asked during last summer, while in BC. The run up the Coast from S. Calif would be extremely difficult for a C Dory-maybe not impossible, but even though I have done the trip up and back in 38 to 60 foot boats a number of times, I would not attempt it in any of the C Dory family boats. There are several capes which often have winds in excess of 40 knots on the nose, and often seas up to 15 feet at 8 second interval. Plus the runs between fuel stops are close to the range of most of our boats--add in closed bars, it could be dangerous.

[blackfish]

oh come on where's your sense of adventure 40 knot winds 15 ft seas
its a c-dory no problem

[journey on]

Well, Bob, there are two different views about those West Coast Capes. I assume you mean Cape Flattery, which starts the trip; Cape Mendocino, at the top of California and Pt. Conception, which is the entry into So Cal.

While my thought is to avoid winds of 40 knts and waves of 15', certainly in a 25' C-Dory, I've been past those capes when it's flat calm. Since I was always in a sailboat (does that tell you something?) I had to turn on the motor to pass those capes. Luck beats skill.

My point is that with the speed of a C-Dory, you can go out, see the capes individually, and come back in. But, one needs timing for that. I wanted to go out the Golden Gate this summer, and go UP WIND to Drakes Bay, but the winds never allowed that.

Anyway those capes are not always blowing.

Do you know that there is a pod of Orcas in the LA Channel? We saw them this summer. And, no, they weren't porpoises.

Boris

[lloyds]

Robson Bight is identified on the charts, and at the west and east ends there are large plywood signs showing the limits.

[thataway]

Boris, I did not say that the conditions were always boisterous--but frequently they are. I have passed Conception once when it was flat calm--and I would rather have it flat calm, rather than windy. My last trip up the coast, I arrived at Coho at 5 PM--the conditions and predictions were calm for the entire night around Conception and Agruello--So we went on. At about 3 AM (when it should be the calmest, we had 50 knots on the nose, although Conception was relitatively smooth. The moral is that conditions can be unpredictable. In our ocean crossing vessels I have the moto of "put it in gear and go"--but these were vessels which were made to take on the 40 to 50 knots and seas that go with it. I have friends who have waited for over a week at Coho, and never found a window to get around in calm weather. This PM--it is 19 gusting to 23, with 6 foot seas--a relitatively calm day--but still not C Dory weather. With the C Dory I am much more likely to wait out the weather. Could you run a C Dory up the Coast from San Diego to Seattle--most likely, if you had plenty of time and could wait out the weather--and were lucky and didn't get a bad roll of the dice, after setting out. Yes there are the major capes, but there are a lot of smaller ones along the way. In my experience going up and down the West Coast--I always look at the conditions which I may encounter along the way--and specifically at the next harbor--perticularly if there is a bar which might be closed, and I would be forced to go on another hundred or more miles.

I would think that the Orcas seen in the Los Angeles Channel were either transcients or offshore groups. I don't believe that there is a resident pod in the channel between S. Calif and the channel Island. Orca are found thru out most of the world, but many are transcient.

[journey on]

Bob, you're absolutely correct. The West Coast can be boisterous; read the part of Two Years Before the Mast, where Dana comes back to California and sails north into some terrible NW winds. Also, you're talking to a guy who trailers from San Diego to San Pedro to go to Catalina. Let alone from San Diego to the San Juans.

My point is: if you want to see what those points are like, it's easy(ier) on a boat with some speed. And yes, even that doesn't always work, as I saw in SF Bay this summer. And weather changes. Once, I came south from Morro Bay, motored around Pts. Arguello and Conception in a calm early in the morn and then got blown out of Coho anchorage in the afternoon.

By the way, it now costs more to park at the San Pedro launch ramp than it does for a mooring at Catalina, on a per day basis. We may be leaving the truck/trailer at Oceanside, where you can find free parking and accept the gas difference. So all decisions are subject to change.

Boris