Saturday, Feb 22,'03
Mary-Lou Hascarl
11:00 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.
Sunny and calm
Visitors - 68

Today began very quietly with very little boat traffic. Luna was out in
Jacklah Bay for much of the day so most visitors weren't too interested in
staying for long.

He did approach the dock at 12:40p.m. alongside a boat from Esperanza. In
speaking with the passengers of that boat I learned that they had seen Luna
on the opposite side of Victor Island near Mooyah Bay and had stopped to try
to photograph him. As soon as they stopped, Luna glommed onto their vessel
and showed no interest in leaving them. Eventually, they re-started and
motored for the Gold River dock but mentioned that in doing so they were
concerned about how Luna would go under the boat and get so close to the
props. They were worried about hurting him. That seems a valid concern.
Luna remained at the dock and seemed to derive entertainment from a young
border collie on board the Jessie A who barked herself hoarse at the orca.
Luna pushed high up out of the water to see this dog. During the time that
Luna was present, there were, fortunately, few visitors. But there was quite
a lot of activity on the dock with the Jessie A being loaded. At about 2:30
p.m. it slowly headed out for Friday Harbour with Luna in tow. That was the
last I saw of Luna for the day.

Garth Sinclair of DFO posted signs around the lower pier area warning that
attracting or interacting with the whale in any way is prohibited, but the
signs are not easily visible - they are 81/2" X 11" black on white and
posted high up on the pilings.

Physically, Luna has two newer cuts on his left side on the white Mr.ing
forward of his tail. Unfortunately, I was not able to get a good look at
them. At first glance the Mr.s looked like something trailing from his
side. Later, I noticed that they were long, curved cuts (likely from a
propeller). He kept his tail quite low in the water whenever he came close
enough for a look so it was hard to see those Mr.s in any detail.

Sunday, Feb. 23,'03
Mary-Lou Hascarl
11:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Sunny and windy
Visitors - 87

Arrived at 11:00 a.m. to see three people on the lower dock. No sign of
Luna, not even in the distance.

At 11:15, a boat appeared, motoring slowly, from around Victor Island. It
stopped briefly in Jacklah Bay then continued on into dock at a crawl.
That's a sure sign that Luna has been picked up and, sure enough, he came in
on the bow. The boat docked at the small, rotting pier just behind the
UCHUCK III. Once docked, the three passengers began to bang the side of the
boat to entice Luna in for a pet. One of the men shouted to the onlookers on
the upper dock to "get your cameras ready!" as he reached out to pat the
orca. I went down to their boat and spoke with the men who were at first
defensive but then very cooperative. Luna was more interested in rubbing up
against the vessel Scott & Melissa unless the men were banging the sides and
offering attention.

At 12:15 p.m, a crew boat from a logging camp pulled in next to the Scott &
Melissa. The men that disembarked tried to interact with Luna by banging the
side of the boat and slapping the water. Luna complied, as always, and came
in for a pat. These guys are on their way home after a long shift so they
didn't stick around long.

At 1:15 p.m, the owners of the Scott & Melissa got on board their vessel.
They were joined by a group of four teens who had come to see the whale. No
one attempted to touch Luna but everyone had a good lean over the side to
have a look. Two people had gone down to the lower dock with a large rock
and were banging it against the wood to try to entice Luna over toward them.
They were very amicable about stopping when asked to do so.

Sometime between 2:00 and 2:30 p.m. Luna headed back out toward Victor
Island. I had hoped that he was gone for the day, but at 4:20 p.m. he
latched onto a large fishing boat and came back in. No one on board had
tried to engage Luna nor did they show him any interest once docked. This
time he focussed his attention on the lower (main) pier area. Most people
were very good about keeping to the upper dock but, of course, there are
always those who choose not to listen. No one tried to reach out to Luna.

At 5:00 p.m, Chris Swain and Kevin Murray of the local RCMP arrived on
scene. They spoke with an older gentleman who persisted in slapping the
tires on the side of the dock beckoning to the whale despite having been
told not to. This was the same man I had mentioned in my report of Jan. 19
who was reluctant to stop touching Luna then.

When I finally left at 6:00 p.m Luna was still swimming about at the lower
dock. A steady stream of visitors came to get a glimpse of Luna today; 87 in
the 7 hours I spent there. That indicates a fairly quiet day in comparison
to last Sunday when 54 people showed up in a one hour period. While the
majority of today's visitors were local, there were several groups of
out-of-towners coming from as far as Qualicum Beach, Victoria, Duncan and
even Delta.

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