EncDate:04/02/24 

EncSeq:1

Enc#:12

ObservBegin:11:25 AM

ObservEnd:12:03 PM

Vessel:Mike 1

Staff:Mark Malleson

Other Observers:Brendon Bissonnette

Pods:Bigg's killer whales

LocationDescr:south of Middle Bank

Start Latitude:48 22.65

Start Longitude:123 10.97

End Latitude:48 21.81

End Longitude:123 08.61

 

EncSummary:

Mark received an early report of killer whales traversing north through Oak Bay past Cattle Point at 0946. He called George to see if he was home in order to keep an eye out for them but he was conveniently already on Gonzales hill with his trusty Zeiss binoculars. Within a few minutes after he turned and looked north into Oak Bay he spotted them between Chatham Island and the Chain Islands heading south east.  

Mark met Brendon at Mike 1 and departed the dock at 1045. They crossed the Victoria waterfront before coming to a stop ~ 2 nm south west of Seabird Point to conduct a scan of the area where the whales had last been seen. With no visual of the reported whales, the two continued ahead along a southeast course with a moderate north wind and two foot chop on their port quarter; at 1125 Mark detected an exhalation in his peripheral vision approximately a quarter mile south of the vessel’s position, signalling the beginning of the encounter ~ 3 nm south of Discovery Island.

It wasn’t until several minutes later that the whales reappeared, this time slightly north of Mike 1. Mark turned the boat into the short, now increasing waves and gradually navigated towards their position. The first animal to be photographed was T060D, a 20-year-old bull who is most frequently accompanied by his younger brother, T060E. A few seconds later, the latter also surfaced, his tell-tale notches unmistakable. 

Brothers T060D and T060E dispersed from their immediate family in 2019, shortly before the birth of their youngest sibling, and have since been sighted numerous times on both the northern and southern coasts of Vancouver Island. They were last encountered by CWR staff on January 7th (See Encounter #5) although Mark had seen them more recently on January 23rd with T019 and T019B near Eagle Point, San Juan Island while guiding a commercial whale watch trip.

While the two bulls effortlessly navigated their way through the chop, Brendon took note of their dive times: the first two dives lasted nearly 7 minutes each, while the third-and-final dive observed were timed just under 6 minutes as they had picked up their pace and were on a more steady track line.

Given the building sea conditions, and with the whales persisting on their southeastern trajectory, Mark and Brendon made the decision to conclude the encounter at 1203 and return to Victoria.

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