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EncDate:07/01/24 

EncSeq:2

Enc#:05

ObservBegin:03:25 PM

ObservEnd:04:00 PM

Vessel: New Research Vessel

Staff:Dave Ellifrit, Michael Weiss

Other Observers:Darren Croft

Pods: Bigg's killer whales

LocationDescr:Haro Strait

Start Latitude:48 32.74

Start Longitude:123 12.76

End Latitude:48 30.25

End Longitude:123 12.03

EncSummary:

The team launched our new 23 ft. research vessel made by LifeProof Boats at one of the boat ramps in Port Angeles in the early afternoon. We giddily putted out of the P.A. harbor while exploring all the nooks and crannies of the new boat. The engines still needed to be broken in so we began that process once we were past the end of the spit. We had some dark ripples at the beginning of the trip so could not get up to the speeds we were supposed to go to break in the engines. It was clear that the new boat is very fast but also rides really well. We all took turns driving as we tried different rpms across the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The water flattened out a little once we passed Discovery and headed up Haro Strait. Somewhere southeast of Kelp Reef, Michael and Darren saw splashes up ahead of us-whales! We had all our gear with us because we wanted to see how much space we had on it so we decided to see how the whales would react to the new boat.  

The encounter began at 1525 east of Kelp Reef on the Canadian side of the border. The whales were in two loose groups with the front group a few hundred yards to the south of the rear group. The front group was in a loose formation and included T75B and the T75Cs, along with T77, T77C, and T77D. T77 was doing a lot of tail lobs and several cartwheels, as she had been before the encounter started, while they traveled slowly south down Haro Strait. This group seemed unconcerned with us and we got lefts and rights on them before moving on to the rear group. The rear group was also loosely spread but was being pretty social. All three of T75Bs kids were here, along with T77E and the sprouting brothers, T60D and T60E. This group was all over the place but still generally heading south following the lead group. The socializing whales were especially unconcerned with our presence and we were able to take both left and right ID shots of them. Any worries about how the whales would react to the new boat were quickly laid to rest when the whales repeatedly came over to check us out. We ended the encounter at 1600 mid-Haro Strait off the Lime Kiln Lighthouse. It was a really nice start with the new boat and we look forward to having many more encounters in it in the next couple of decades!