EncDate:20/08/24 

EncSeq:1

Enc#:81

ObservBegin:09:56 AM

ObservEnd:02:15 PM

Vessel:KCB III

Staff:Dave Ellifrit, Darren Croft

Other Observers:Charli Grimes, Alondra Caro Ruiz, Taylor Redmond

Pods:J, L

LocationDescr:Haro Strait

Start Latitude:48 23.28

Start Longitude:123 00.07

End Latitude:48 28.43

End Longitude:123 07.03

 

EncSummary:

The day began with reports of SRs off the west side. The part of the team that was not sick met at Snug Harbor and left in KCB3 at 0924. We last heard that the whales were heading offshore from Eagle Point so we pushed out in the direction of Hein Bank. We found our first whale about a mile or so north of Hein Bank and the encounter started at 0956. We had four or five spread out and milling whales. The first whale we saw was J38. Another male in the general area was L106. J36 was also milling in the area. The next two whales to appear were L119 and L126. Another lone foraging male turned out to be L88 which meant that we had all of L pod around based on only four different L pod whales. L106 seemed very interested in L119 and was following her around. L106 would be doing more of that sort of thing during the encounter, and we would see a lot of him throughout the day. The next two whales to pop up were L72 and L105 and they travelled northwest towards Pile Point. L86 joined them. To the south of this threesome, we found a large loosely spread group that included all the L55s, the L91s, the J31s, J37s, J27, J42, J46, J53, and J51. This group was moving quickly on a line towards False Bay. Just a little behind them was another smaller group that included J45, J47, and the recently rejoined L86s.

Once we had good photos of those two groups, we moved a bit north and found L110 and L117 socializing together. Then we found L83 foraging by herself off False Bay and then L54 traveling north by herself. After that we moved offshore of False Bay and found L25 and L87 spread out but both heading in the same northeast direction. We moved back inshore towards the bay and found L124 chasing a salmon. L77 and L115 were in the same area. We found L108 closer inshore heading slowly north. A large part of our previous big group was crossing the mouth of False and Kanaka Bays so we saw the L82s, L91s, L119s, J31s, plus J27, L118, and L109 again. J41 was also randomly in there by herself. J26 also made an appearance with this group.

The J31s moved offshore a bit and were followed by L109. The sprouters L115 and L116 joined this group in a bout of active socializing but it was L109 who was the most interested in and excited about J31. This group moved off to the south. After they moved on, we had another group that moved slowly offshore past us that included the L91s, J27, and L117. We briefly caught sight of the L72s again and we had J39 pass by us traveling south by himself. We had another group head south off Hannah Heights that included the L77s, J36, and L121-the first and only one of the L94s we would be able to find this day. J16 and J42 were paralleling this group by a couple of hundred yards to the west. We ended the encounter at 1415 off Pile Point with a threesome that included J40, L86, and L125 heading slowly south in a tight group.