Whales have been avoiding me most of my life. As a kid, my parents would take my sisters and me out day-tripping from Cowichan Bay around Bold Bluff Point to Burgoyne Bay. There were always whales about, but as I got older and bought my own boat, they became more elusive. I have been on excursions to Alert Bay, Telegraph Cove and even Zeballos. Not to mention the 1,000 trips on BC Ferries where my friends “always” see killer whales. Not me. In fact, this summer, I purposely cruised through Active Pass but was one day too early to see 50 members of J and L pods throwing a party. I had just scored the prime stern tie ring in Conover Cove when I started getting the first of a series of texts, “Hey did you hear?”
But I have not lost hope. I have just downloaded a cool app called WhaleReport from the Vancouver Aquarium and the Cetacean Research Program of Fisheries and Oceans Canada. The Sightings Network is a group of thousands of observers, like you and, hopefully, me, across BC who report sightings of whales, dolphins, porpoises and even sea turtles. The App provides great photos and descriptions of each species. It allows all boaters to report what they see and contribute to important conservation-based research. You can also report sightings on their webpage at http://wildwhales.org/
Being the optimist that I am, I have entered all of my information, and I am eagerly awaiting my first sighting report submission.
