Alaska News and Sightings Reported for April 17, 2002 Eric Stirrup of TENBEARS: From the sound of things quite a few whales are moving by the NE corner here. Lots of reports from the Narrow Cape area. I was out there both last weekend and the weekend before. Saw whales both times but what I saw were feeding whales, following their normal activity routes along the tide rips. I've talked with several people who are fishing that area and have been all winter and that group of grays is in the consistantly 100 - 200 strong, with small groups scattered throughout a twenty five mile circle. Fisherman have seen them all winter moving on and offshore depending on weather and tides. Probably the only distinct migrants are going to be cow calf pairs although there are cow + juvenile pairs in the Narrow Cape group. This group is now at least four years here, not leaving or migrating south in the fall? Raises some interesting questions. Eric Captain Leslie Hines of Kenai Fjords Tours Date #of Gray Whales Location 3/31 3 GW 59.83, -149.39 Eastern tip of Mary's Bay 3/31 5 GW 59.86, -149.27 Between Cape Resurrection and Barwell island 4/2 3 GW Hive Island 4/2 4 GW Between Barwell and Cape Resurrection 4/6 4-5 GW North end of Cheval Island 4/6 4 GW Agnes Cove 4/6 3-4 GW Between Barwell Island and Cheval Island 4/7 4 GW 59.86, -149.33 1.5 NM E of Rugged Island 4/7 3 GW 59.86, -149.28 2 NM E of Rugged 4/7 4 GW SW Point Rugged Island 4/8 1 GW   4/9 9 GW 59.83, -149.43 4/9 3 GW 59.82, -149.43 4/10 2 GW 59.83, -149.37 Rugged Island Sightings Reported in Kodiak Thanks, Susan Payne! 3/23 Our first gray whale sighting was between Miner's Point and Cape Ugat in the Shelikof Strait. 3/27 The first reported in Ugak Pass were 3 grays spotted by Mark Blakeslee from his small plane. 3/28 10 grays seen per hour at Narrow Cape. 3/31 2 grays seen at Buoy 4 heading around Spruce Cape. Meanwhile out at Narrow Cape 8 grays milling around at Narrow Cape and 2-3 grays feeding in the surf at Bear Paw Ranch in the Narrow Cape vicinity...they like to feed on mysids there. 4/2 3-5 grays seen every 30 minutes going past Miller Point at Fort Abercrombie; 3 grays at Fossil Beach near Narrow Cape; 4 grays off Pashagshak Point; 1 gray very close to shore in Pashagshak Bay. 4/3 1 gray seen 1 mile east of Miller Point at 3 pm and 1 at Miller Point at 9:30 am. 4/4 1 gray at Miller Point 4/5 2 grays at Fossil Beach near Narrow Cape. Aprox 10 whales seen from Pashagshak Point. Flipper slapping and dives observed. 1 gray seen off Spruce Cape, 2 breaching whale seen near buoy 5 off Kodiak town, 1 gray off Spruce Cape, one unidentified pod seen from winery at Cape Chiniak, Rosalinde Beach. 4/6 3 adult grays and 1 calf seen at North end of Long Island. 4/7 3 grays at Narrow Cape and 5 grays senn in Pashagshak Bay. 4/10 16 grays seen at Narrow Cape heading south between 11:00-12:45 am. 7 grays seen off Long Island. 4/13 1 gray seen several times at Termination Point off Monaschka Bay. Many grays seen at Narrow Cape. 4/14 Audubon walk at Narrow Cape as part of Whale Fest. Visibility poor because of white caps, but some blows spotted. Copyright 2002 Journey North. All Rights Reserved. Please send all questions, comments, and suggestions to our feedback form