A Horrific Story
26 August 2014 | Port Harvey, BC
George and Sue Stonecliffe
While at Kwatsi Bay, the Harbormaster, Max, told us that three days before, so just a few days before we were in Viner Sound, a horrific incident occurred. Transient orcas (that only eat mammals, not fish) as juxtaposed to the fish-eating orca pods in the San Juan Islands came into Viner Sound. Ahead of them, they were chasing, and cornering, a large herd of white-sided dolphins. The 6-8 transient orcas cornered, and proceeded to eat most of the dolphins that were trapped. When we heard this story, we were shocked, having anchored in Viner Sound just a few days after this event. If you can imagine, a boat that was anchored there at the time, took a one hour video of the carnage, before deciding to leave because they couldn't watch anymore of it. This is nature's way: Max said that it seems to happen every few years in Viner Sound, AND he added, it happened in Kwatsi Bay last year with many boaters at the dock watching. Ugh. We recalled our experience up in Alaska in Chatham Channel, and realized that this wolf pack of transient orcas is an active bunch. We heard about similar transients while in the South Pacific, eating large manta rays in the Marquesas and off the southern island of New Zealand.