EncDate:07/10/24 

EncSeq:1

Enc#:103

ObservBegin:02:33 PM

ObservEnd:04:07 PM

Vessel:KCB III

Staff:Dave Ellifrit, Michael Weiss

Other Observers:Charli Grimes

Pods:Bigg's killer whales

LocationDescr:Haro Strait

Start Latitude:48 31.80

Start Longitude:123 11.00

End Latitude:48 27.35

End Longitude:123 02.19

 

EncSummary:

The team was working in the office when Michael happened to look out the window and caught sight of some dorsal fins though the trees. We grabbed our gear, headed down to Snug Harbor, and left in “KCB3” at 1425. The whales had been heading south so we turned down island. We first saw the whales just a little south of Bellevue Point and the encounter began at 1433. T19C and T60D were traveling south together about three quarters of a mile offshore. We could see another group of three whales tight to the shoreline but paralleling the offshore group. Proof of presence photos taken of the inshore group showed them to be the other two T19s and T60E as we expected. 

T19C and T60D seemed to be socializing as they traveled slowly down island since they were sometimes rolling together and tactile. We got the drone up over the two of them and it confirmed that they were indeed socializing and fooling around with one another. The pair would occasionally angle inshore and came within about a half mile of the SJI shoreline. After two flights over this pair, we moved inshore towards the other group. T19B and T60E also seemed to be socializing while T19 was nearby and a little inside of them. We got ID shots on these three as they headed down the shoreline. The outside pair kept creeping inshore and, by the time the whales were south of False Bay, were only about a quarter mile away from the inside whales. T19B and T19C seemed to trade positions and partners near Eagle Point. We ended the encounter at 1607, a little south of Eagle Point with the whales loosely spread out and heading east toward Cattle Point.