EncDate:13/06/24 

EncSeq:1

Enc#:50

ObservBegin:09:45 AM

ObservEnd:01:14 PM

Vessel:KCB III

Staff:Dave Ellifrit, Michael Weiss

Other Observers: Rachel John, Taylor Redmond

Pods:J Pod

LocationDescr:Haro Strait

Start Latitude:48 28.72

Start Longitude:123 05.61

End Latitude:48 21.78

End Longitude:123 10.31

 

EncSummary:

After receiving reports of probable Southern Residents heading west off the south end of Lopez Island, the team met at Snug Harbor and left in KCB3 at 0915. We saw our first whales off Kanaka Bay and the encounter started at 0945. The first two whales we saw were J16 and J36 and they were loosely spread and heading north and inshore towards Pile Point. The J19s also showed up and went inshore north of Pile Point. We got one drone flight in on the J16s and J19s who were near the SJI shoreline. We were not seeing any more whales to the southeast of us although we headed down there a way and took a look around. If there were any whales near shore, they were being scarce, so we decided to look offshore. We started heading southwest towards Seabird Point.

Around 1115ish and several miles offshore of SJI, we finally spotted some more whales between us and Seabird Pt. so we headed that way. This, somehow, ended up being the J19s again and they were loosely spread and heading southeast at a fairly fast speed. J53 was milling and foraging in the general area. We saw the J37s further offshore of us and J27 was foraging by himself about a mile to the south of us. J47 showed up and joined J53. J35 and J57 also showed up from the south and were nearby. More whales began popping up out of the woodwork and grouping up. By 1245, most of the whales were now pointed north again. J45 appeared and so did J40 and J46. Within a few minutes we had a group consisting of all the J14s, J17s, and J31s in a tight formation heading north at a medium speed. J39 showed up and joined the group and a few minutes later, J27 showed up and joined the group towards the rear. J26 also appeared, arriving from the south by himself. J26 was approaching the large group when we ended the encounter after getting a few photos of him at 1314 about six miles southwest of Seabird Point.