GOLD RIVER -- A last-ditch attempt to lead Luna the killer whale out of Nootka Sound is likely to be made today.

Members of L Pod, Luna's family, have been spotted off Tofino, but late Thursday there were no new sightings and everything will depend on locating the whales.

A spotter plane will be on the lookout first thing this morning. If members of L Pod are in the area, fisheries officers, accompanied by a staff member from Vancouver Aquarium, will attempt to lead Luna to Tofino.

"If the whales are there, we are going for it," said Department of Fisheries and Oceans Gold River supervisor Ed Thorburn.

The four-year-old orca has developed an affection for the DFO Zodiac boat, and fisheries officers Thorburn and Greg Rusel have spent the last two days in experimental runs, seeing how far they can lead Luna, as a preparation for the trip to Tofino.

On Thursday Luna followed the boat for four hours to the mouth of Nootka Sound.

"We have been trying all sorts of things to keep him interested. We have toys," Thorburn said.

Luna's favourite is a blue bumper which he puts under his flipper, takes for a deep dive, and then resurfaces with it on his nose.

But Luna remains reluctant to swim into the open ocean and Thorburn is uncertain whether the attempt to travel in tandem to Tofino will work and whether such a trip can be accomplished in daylight.

There are also worries about what will happen if Luna gets tired and heads into a community such as Hot Springs Cove.

"How do we mount a capture there?" said Thorburn, who has developed a close relationship with the whale during the almost three years he has been living in Nootka Sound.

Despite the problems, this is a far more palatable option than the "hard capture" which is likely to go ahead next week if the lead-out fails, Thorburn said.

"We are hoping against all odds that it works out," said Rusel.

If the walk-the-dog attempt is not successful, all efforts will go into persuading the 1,800-kilogram orca into the small net pen already installed beside the old Gold River pulp mill site.

Luna would be kept in the net pen for up to 11 days while blood tests are done to ensure he does not carry the ebola virus, which could infect other members of the endangered southern resident killer whale population.

If healthy, he would be put in a sling and trucked to Pedder Bay, to a net pen within earshot of L pod which usually spends June in the Juan de Fuca Strait.

Luna, who has been on his own since he was a year old, is being moved because of the danger he poses to boats and floatplanes and because everyone agrees he needs whales, not humans, to keep him company.

He is lonely, and although he has moved out of the high traffic area of Gold River to the relative isolation of Moowa Bay, he craves attention.

Earlier Thursday, Luna insistently begged for attention from a small aluminum boat carrying a Times Colonist reporter and photographer.

But his real entertainment arrived as the MV Uchuck chugged into sight through the waters of Hanna Channel. Luna danced and jumped his way across the channel to greet passengers and crew on the boat which does regular freight runs to communities and logging camps around Nootka and Kyuquot sounds.

Alongside the boat, the orca rolled on his side, eyed up his audience and dove in and out of the bow wave as he kept up with the vessel.

"When you look in his eye it just breaks your heart," said one man, who like many Gold River residents, does not want to be identified because of the strict penalties and rules imposed by DFO in an effort to stop Luna from becoming habituated to human contact.

But every resident has a Luna story.

"He laid against the bottom of the boat I was in and wouldn't move. If you tried to leave he would bang his head against the side of the boat," said logger Chris Flynn.

"You can see how much he wants affection," said Cameron Forbes of Critter Cove Marina as he tried to steer his boat away from the lonely orca.