Most boaters who were aware of Luna were operating under the misconception that it was acceptable to stop in the zone and allow for Luna to come to them.  Erin and I explained Luna is a special case and for him there is no safe viewing distance.

One of the common questions we get is “Why is Luna staying in this one location?”  Our answer to that is that we don’t know.  One of the stories we’ve heard is that Luna’s uncle died in Mooyah Bay when his pod was passing through and he has chosen to stay there.

Most people think Luna is part of the transient population, recalling that they’ve seen his family in the area hunting seals off haul-outs south of Gore Island.

We have heard of people feeding Luna, repeatedly the item mentioned was a loaf of bread, and once, we heard of taco chips and beer- whether there’s any truth to that we’re not sure.

Cam Forbes, who is the owner/operator of Critter Cove, told us that prior to us being here there would be 30 boats any given day in the zone with Luna.  He shared his experiences with Luna last winter (2001/2002) when he could watch Luna from a distance breaching and feeding.  His favourite site was Luna schooling pilchard against his body with his pectoral fin.  He said Luna used to capture his prey and bring it to the boat as if to show what he’d caught.  Cam recalled he would bring salmon half chewed to boat sides.

Luna has mucous eye goobers in both eyes.  It looks like a transparent jelly type film that trails the direction of his swimming.  They are about six inches in length and we tried to capture them on video for the attention of trained biologists to diagnose (we’re not sure how well that came up on the video).

We see an average of six to ten planes daily flying over Mooyah Bay.  It appeared most of them were travelling through but on few occasions planes have circled the area and flown extremely low to the surface.  We’re not positive as to distances above water because we don’t have a rangefinder nor are we positive of the company these planes belong to- we think it’s Nootka Air.

While passing out info at Cougar Creek we heard a story from an older lady who had taken their small Boston Whaler out with her grandkids and husband to Mooyah Bay to see Luna from a distance.  She was quite clearly frightened by his assertiveness and was insistent that there be more publicity attesting to his mannerisms.  She was from Campbell River and was sure to add she had read and seen all the coverage about the whale (our question was then why would you enter the zone?!).

Garth Sinclair told us of his experiences with Luna pushing him away from boaters he would be talking with by wedging his body between the two boats.  It took a couple of days of us being there before he began to do the same thing with us.  We also noticed his tail splashing when engines would start to become more aggressive, as if he was clearly intent upon them staying.  We think this is due to cutting down the number of interactions.

Over the ten days we were there we noticed peoples response changing when we approached them already with Luna.  It used to be that boaters played dumb about knowing what area they were in, or about Luna in general and would slowly pitter patter away from the zone after talking with us.  Over the past two days we had more than two boaters ask us how to get him away from them or if we could take him now in an urgent sort of frightened expression.  The physical power of Luna coupled with his increasing level of assertiveness is changing the boaters responses to visiting him.

On a couple of occasions we approached boaters who claimed there should be signs up at Gold River and local marinas.  There are signs up at Gold River and all the local marinas which tells us either they’re not big enough or aren’t in the best location for viewing.

We have been told that boaters travelling under 30 knots are approachable by the whale on two separate occasions.

While we know Mooyah Bay to be closed for fin fishing, the signs in the marinas say it is open for fishing but it is a no retention area.  This confusion has had us speaking with one boat within the bay that was fishing.  Crab trapping etc. is open and although we discourage people placing their traps there, we also ask them if they are going to trap there to transit in and out of the zone as quickly as possible, transiting along the shorelines as much as possible.

Many boaters have told us on their way through Gold River they were told by store clerks of where Luna is located, to go and see him, that Luna will let you know when he’s had enough visiting..

One boater asked if the lady who swam with Luna has been reprimanded?

I believe it was Cam who told us about a boat of school children dipping their feet in the water with LunaThere is concern that boaters who see M3 come into Critter Cove for lunch or dinner are taking advantage of our temporary lack of presence in the zone.  On August 10^th Garth, Veins of Life Watershed Society, Louise and Megan ran into a boat (“Striper”) on its way into the zone to have a look with their cameras out and ready to go.  Striper is a boat that I’m sure is aware of our presence because we’ve seen him at Critter Cove on a daily basis and while we haven’t spoken with him on the water I’m pretty sure we’ve spoken to him at Critter Cove at the fueling station.

One boater who supported the effort to cut down all human interaction suggested we update the Critter Cove website with progress reports so people can follow the progress and Critter Cove, along with all the people who do follow the requests when transiting through be recognized for their support and cooperation.

The First Nations in Nootka Sound believe that Luna arrived around the same time that their Chief, Ambrose Maquinna died, and that Luna is there to mourn his death. They believe that after the mourning period, Luna will leave the area.  The local newspaper Ha-shilth-sa indicates that the First Nation’s name for L98 is “Cuuxiit”.

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