Reading Dave Kruger's report of his two trips to the Queen Charlottes got me thinking about the trip my sister and I took there in late June of 1996 and the odd fishing behavior of the seals that we noted there. We were camping south of Hot Springs Island when we started noticing occasional sharp reports coming from the water, sometimes from the south, sometimes from the west. Looking around, I could see no boats, no nothing, in fact. Suddenly, whap! off to the left but when I looked in that direction there was nothing to be seen. After watchfully waiting a bit longer, I saw a seal porpoise up, dive and whap!, his tail hit the water with a great smack. We were to see this over and over again, both there, from our camp by Hot Springs, Marcos Island, and other spots. I concluded that this was a fishing anomaly of QC seals, one that I had never seen or heard before in either British Columbia (Johnstone Strait, Broken Group) or USA (California). Did you notice anything like this when you were there Dave? Has anyone in this ng come across this behavior, either in the QC or elsewhere? By the way, Dave: We took one look at Sandspit and grabbed the first bus into Queen Charlotte City, a much more simpatico sort of place in my opinion. *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************
David J. Russell wrote: > > Reading Dave Kruger's report of his two trips to the Queen Charlottes > got me thinking about [snip] the odd fishing behavior of the seals that > we noted there. > > We were camping south of Hot Springs Island when we started noticing > occasional sharp reports coming from the water, sometimes from the south, > sometimes from the west. [snip] After watchfully waiting a bit longer, I saw a > seal porpoise up, dive and whap!, his tail hit the water with a great smack. > > We were to see this over and over again, both there, from our camp by > Hot Springs, Marcos Island, and other spots. I concluded that this was a > fishing anomaly of QC seals,[snip] > Did you notice anything like this when you were there Dave? Has anyone > in this ng come across this behavior, either in the QC or elsewhere? Nope -- and nowhere else, either. I have heard that smack now and then down here, but never any concentrated, dedicated tail smacking. Could be fishing behavior or could just be frisky seals. I dunno. > By the way, Dave: We took one look at Sandspit and grabbed the first bus > into Queen Charlotte City, a much more simpatico sort of place in my > opinion. QCC makes me itchy, with its kitschy tourist feel, although there are a couple good places to eat. We really enjoyed Summerland, with its terrific pizza. Sandspit is raw and really basic, with no tourist services to speak of. The hot tips for food are prawn night at the hotel at the airport (Fridays), and the bun wagon for lunch. There are hot showers for travelers in Sandspit at the RV park: one looney for two minutes, but NO hot showers in QCC. -- Dave Kruger Astoria, OR *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************
Davic said... ....... > We were camping south of Hot Springs Island when we started noticing >occasional sharp reports coming from the water, sometimes from the south, >sometimes from the west. Looking around, I could see no boats, no nothing, >in fact. Suddenly, whap! off to the left but when I looked in that direction >there was nothing to be seen. After watchfully waiting a bit longer, I saw a >seal porpoise up, dive and whap!, his tail hit the water with a great smack. > > We were to see this over and over again, both there, from our camp by >Hot Springs, Marcos Island, and other spots. I concluded that this was a >fishing anomaly of QC seals, one that I had never seen or heard before in >either British Columbia (Johnstone Strait, Broken Group) or USA >(California). > > Did you notice anything like this when you were there Dave? Has anyone >in this ng come across this behavior, either in the QC or elsewhere? This sounds like when we encoutered the whale shark and 2 giant manta rays, last winter in the Phillipines...Took a couple hours to figure out what it was...Then we finnally saw them...They were creaming jelly fish off the toop od the waters...Even wiht 5 yaks going in circles in the area, them critters would still breach the surface all around us, even coming inches from us [ many times to each yaks]... Yours naturally sylvio lamarche Wycliffe organic gardens & Exotic locales all over the globe *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************
I have from time to time seen this behavior with seals in spots along the Maine coast but only in fall. I had assumed that it was part of courtship. Since the tail slap is generally a warning of danger for the other seals nearby, I wonder if a breach slap might be a warning of some underwater danger/predator nearby? mark *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************
>Did you notice anything like this when you were there Dave? Has anyone >in this ng come across this behavior, either in the QC or elsewhere? I saw similar behaviour in between a couple of islands in the Johnstone Straight area. We couldn't figure out what the seal was doing. We wondered if it wasn't physically or mentally sick. It almost looked like it was playing, yet the repurcussions were so loud that we had to wonder. Brian. -- ================================================================ | Brian Heifner | Email: bheifner_at_rational.com | | Sr. Technical Writer | Tel: 503-748-6743 | | Rational Software Corporation | | ================================================================ *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************
Just back from a fabulous 6 day tour in the Broughton Archipelago (British Columbia), so catching up on stuff... We also noticed seals doing this on several occasions when paddling around Galiano Island (Gulf Islands, BC). We asked a few of the locals...it seemed common enough, but no clear explanation. Maybe they were trying to imitate orcas ;-) <snip> > Reading Dave Kruger's report of his two trips to the Queen Charlottes >got me thinking about the trip my sister and I took there in late June of >1996 and the odd fishing behavior of the seals that we noted there. > > We were camping south of Hot Springs Island when we started noticing >occasional sharp reports coming from the water, sometimes from the south, >sometimes from the west. Looking around, I could see no boats, no nothing, >in fact. Suddenly, whap! off to the left but when I looked in that direction >there was nothing to be seen. After watchfully waiting a bit longer, I saw a >seal porpoise up, dive and whap!, his tail hit the water with a great smack. > > We were to see this over and over again, both there, from our camp by >Hot Springs, Marcos Island, and other spots. I concluded that this was a >fishing anomaly of QC seals, one that I had never seen or heard before in >either British Columbia (Johnstone Strait, Broken Group) or USA >(California). > > Did you notice anything like this when you were there Dave? Has anyone >in this ng come across this behavior, either in the QC or elsewhere? > Sam and Ann Isaacs Coast to Coast Canadian Products phone/fax: 604-271-3228 e-mail: saisaacs_at_netcom.ca *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************
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