Unfortunately, this week I was unable to make contact with any of my Vancouver Island contacts because of phone difficulties. These contacts are Jamie Bray of Jamie's Whaling Station in Tofino and Brian Congdon of Subtidal Adventures in Ucluelet, British Columbia. However, on March 26 he emailed me that the Tofino fleet was mostly prevented from getting out on the ocean because of storm conditions, but that when it was possible they were seeing 3-4 whales passing there per hour. The whale was heading their way and they were ready to respond, but bad weather once again kept them onshore. In Sitka, Jan Straley from the University of Alaska, has still not had any reports of gray whales, but she told me they usually arrive there by mid-March.
Weather continues to be a factor in the sighting of gray whales in Seward like elsewhere.
The Whale Alerts are on the air thanks to the local radio stations and in the newspaper. To count whales from Kodiak the best place is Narrow Cape about 40 miles from Kodiak town. There you can climb the bluff and look down on the gray whales as they pass between Ugak Island and Narrow Cape. They continue on their way along the east side of Kodiak Island towards Unimak Pass and the Bering Sea. On Easter Sunday, a cold day of snow squalls, the only signs of Spring I could detect around our home was the shrill song of the varied thrush and the acrobatic soaring of bald eagles, possibly preparing for their mating season.