Geek Habitat

Last summer, I discovered OrcaLive and often kept a live window open on my desktop so I could enjoy the ethereal sounds of orcas as they ply the waters of Johnstone Strait in British Columbia.

Turn up your volume, but be warned — listening to the hydrophones for awhile will make you appreciate just how noisy boats are if you’re a whale or other marine creature!

The orcas are only near this area during the summertime and early fall (October/November). After that, they move on and will not be anywhere near this area until next year.

Sign up for the free mailing list, and you’ll get emails anytime the orcas are near the cameras (visible) or near the hydrophones (audible). I believe you can specify which you’re interested in, so you’re not spammed to death. I signed up since anytime the whales are audible or visible, the website’s streaming capabilities reach capacity (<230 simultaneous users), so you want to make it on within the queue. Once the orcas are gone for the summer/fall, you won’t receive any further emails. But, as soon as the orcas are back next summer, you’ll be alerted.

P.S. Even when the orcas aren’t visible, the live underwater video feed can be a nice live aquarium — whole schools of fish will swim by occasionally, and sometimes the views show seaweed and kelp waving in the underwater currents. I believe I even saw a large turtle and dolphins on the video feed last year!

Enjoy!