EncDate:03/04/24 

EncSeq:28

Enc#:02

ObservBegin:12:36 PM

ObservEnd:01:07 PM

Vessel:Mike 1

Staff:Mark Malleson

Other Observers:Rachelle Hayden

Pods:Bigg's killer whales

LocationDescr:south of Kelp Reef

Start Latitude:48 30.74

Start Longitude:123 12.90

End Latitude:48 33.65

End Longitude:123 14.04

 

EncSummary:

The Mike crew departed T011A (see Encounter #27) and worked their way out towards Beaumont Shoals. There was a slight southerly lump from the current as they slowly pushed south, but spotting conditions were decent.

As they slowed down towards Middle Bank, Mark discussed taking one final scan before heading for the harbour. Just as soon, Rachelle called out "There is a fin!" They both glimpsed a large bull on the next and last surfacing, pointed east a half mile south of Mike 1's position.

While scanning around for a couple of minutes in order to reacquire him, Rachelle spotted a smaller fin a half mile to the north east. Once more, both Mark and Rachelle saw its next and last surfacing before seeing nothing for close to 20 minutes, while scanning in all directions. They decided to head east towards North Hein Bank thinking that perhaps they had missed a sequence by looking down the trailing edges of their dorsal fins. 

When approximately 4.5 nm east of the initial sighting, which was now close to an hour previous, they decided to push back towards the initial location. Mark then received a call from George relaying that he saw a bull and a cow from the lookout at Ten Mile Point, and the two whales were moving quickly north towards Kelp Reef.

Mark spotted the pair ahead of them once they were ~ 3 nm southeast of Kelp Reef and shouted out it's "Chainsaw!"

He and Rachelle were both surprised as they expected to see T049A1 and his younger brother T049A2. The earlier sighting was too distant to see the distinctive notches of T063 "Chainsaw" but that is who they were both convinced were the two illusive animals at Middle Bank.
As it would turn out, brothers T049A1 and T049A2 were picked up with the rest of the T049As in Boundary Pass so obviously it couldn't have been them!
They tracked T063 and his mom, T065 for the next 29 minutes as they moved along at a steady 7.5 knots.
Mark felt there were likely others ahead of the pair as they were cruising along with a purpose. Sure enough, one of the commercial whale watch boats spotted at least two individuals off the south end of Henry Island!

The Mike 1 crew ended the encounter at 1307 ~ 1 nm northeast of Kelp Reef and was about to go investigate the animals closer to Henry Island, but saw Michael and Dave on KCBIII in the distance. They had just launched the vessel after getting a service, so Mark felt that they could confirm the new lead group while he and Rachelle headed back towards Victoria.