Orca by Erich Hoyt

Orca by Erich Hoyt

Author:Erich Hoyt
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Firefly Books
Published: 2013-11-03T16:00:00+00:00


Part Three

SECOND SUMMER

A KILLER WHALE DAY

JULY 11. Once again, I'm heading up Johnstone Strait to killer whale country. The journey that took weeks by sail in 1973 will be completed in a few hours. This year, we've chartered an old nine-passenger amphibious Grumman Goose. Seven of us — plus cameras, sound gear, supplies — are crammed into the belly of a flying tank. Travelling separately, by sailboat, is Hunter, with the underwater gear and divers, notably Stanton A. Waterman, "the dean of underwater cameramen," as Hunter describes him. Forty-nine-year-old Waterman has made a career of jumping into the water with sharks, filming the great white in the 1970 documentary Blue Water, White Death. Hunter figures that after sharks, "orcas'll be a cinch for Watermonster." Hunter and the divers will meet us in Alert Bay. Flying north, following the eastern Vancouver Island coastline, we look for the distinctive brown sails of their ketch, the 57-foot Nausikaa III. We never do see them; the rain and heavy mist blanket Vancouver Island like a patchwork quilt, obscuring the strait and softening the harsh view of the bald mountain patches left by logging companies. Heading inland to the lush Tsitika River Basin, zigzagging across the green virgin wilderness, we slowly turn up the river valley. At the mouth of the Tsitika, the sky opens, and for a few minutes, the sun shines on paradise. We come in low over Robson Bight, close enough to see killer whales — perhaps 10 of them, hanging around at the river's mouth, no doubt enjoying this year's record salmon runs. It's like coming home.



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