Orcas Visit

On Thursday afternoon, I took some visitors on a little trip to the other side of the island, to Thompson Park, near the Saturna Island Vineyard. We played on the beach with the dog, walked around the park and tasted some plums from an old tree. Then we went home to fix dinner.

On the answering machine: a message from people who wanted to come watch orcas (killer whales) at our house, because they had been spotted coming our way. Forget dinner! We looked out and... sure enough... there was a flotilla of boats to the West! Boats (power boats) that are stopped in the middle of nowhere are a sure indicator of killer whales. That's how they stalk them, sad truth.

Above: A small group of orcas, surrounded by their admirers... seen from the naked eye.

In Canadian waters, the required distance that boats must maintain is 100 metres (300 feet). You can judge by these pictures that they are much closer than that, and are actually herding the whales.

As usual, the admirers are way too close to the whales. The "pros" (commercial boats with paying passengers) are a little more reserved than the private boats... according to what I've seen over the few years that I've lived here...

A close up of the scene... This guy hasn't cut his engine and is still moving toward them!

Putting this picture in context: on July 31, the CBC was reporting that the US recently announced new whale watching regulations that would double the required space between the whale watching boats and the orcas (check out this report on the CBC website)

The U.S. is considering adopting new regulations that would double the distance boats must keep from killer whales in the Puget Sound – and those in B.C.'s whale-watching industry worry it could hurt business.
The proposed mandatory rules would prohibit all vessels from coming within 183 metres of killer whales, double the distance of the voluntary buffer zone many tour operators already follow.... (read the rest on the above CBC link)

This is what it really looks like: 100 metres? I don't think so.

The amazing thing is that even from where we stood, much further away than the people in these boats, we could hear the whales breathe. It's very impressive!

Idyllic view of Plumper Sound, over by Thompson Park on Saturna Island. Pender Island in the background.

Click on the above picture to enlarge it and see how close the boats are to the whales, so close to shore. To check out the Canadian regulations and discussion on the possible tightening of the rules, click here for a Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) page.

Too close, people!

Close up of the same shot: private boat way too close (like, right on top, asshole!) My secret wish was that they would get flipped... A nice dunking in really cold water, among some very large creatures... Keep in mind that there are more whales to the left of the yellow boat, and that he is intersecting the group.

In the long run, the whale-lovers will kill the golden goose with too much love and not enough space and respect.