EncDate:29/06/24 

EncSeq:1

Enc#:63

ObservBegin:10:55 AM

ObservEnd:11:50 AM

Vessel:Mike 1

Other Vessel:

Staff:Mark Malleson

Pods:Bigg's killer whales

LocationDescr:South of Sooke

Start Latitude:48 17.40

Start Longitude:123 40.64

End Latitude:48 18.52

End Longitude:123 45.80

 

EncSummary:

Mark departed Victoria Harbour around 0900 to conduct a survey of the Juan de Fuca Strait from Victoria to Otter Point. The previous day, several groups of Bigg's killer whales had been spotted: the T037As were westbound south of Race Rocks, the T038As and T075Cs were eastbound off of East Sooke, and the T109A2s had met up with the T049As (less T049A1 and T049A2) near Race Rocks.

After scanning the area with binoculars between Race Rocks and south of Sooke, where Mark also took the opportunity to photograph the flukes of several humpback whales in the central strait, he decided it was time to head back to the harbour. One of his whale watch colleagues had also surveyed the shoreline up to Sheringham Point Lighthouse and had reported only seeing distant humpback blows, confirming the thoroughness of Mark's search.

At approximately 1050, while Mark was travelling east about 3 miles south of East Sooke Park, he received a call from another colleague who had located a large group of killer whales heading west, about one nautical mile south of Beechey Head. His colleague was initially uncertain of the ecotype of whales but Mark quickly arrived and confirmed through binoculars that they were indeed Bigg's killer whales. Specifically, Mark noted that they were two of the matrilines observed the previous day: the T035As and the T049As, minus T049A1 and T049A2.

The group of 10 whales were tightly knit, travelling at speeds between 7 and 8 knots. After approaching to within 50 metres to capture right-side photographs, Mark withdrew to allow his colleague and other commercial whale watch boats to observe without obstructing their view with the research boat. Within half an hour, as other boats departed to view the numerous humpbacks to the south, Mark moved in for one final series of pictures, this time capturing images of the whales' right sides. After a successful morning, Mark concluded the encounter at 1150.