EncDate:13/09/24 

EncSeq:1

Enc#:93

ObservBegin:08:45 AM

ObservEnd:09:26 AM

Vessel:KCB III

Other Vessel:

Staff:Dave Ellifrit, Michael Weiss

Other Observers:Rachel John, Arlene Vargas, Alondra Caro Ruiz

Pods:J

LocationDescr:southern Strait of Georgia

Start Latitude:48 47.81

Start Longitude:123 02.21

End Latitude:48 51.14

End Longitude:123 03.62

 

EncSummary:

As we were coming home late afternoon from our two Bigg’s encounter day on the 12th, we heard over the radio that SRs were coming in the Strait of Juan de Fuca near Race Rocks. The forecast for wind was not favorable, and we didn’t really have enough daylight to make the slog out to the whales worth it, so we would have to wait until morning. SRs were heard on the hydrophones that night and we had a plan to be off the dock by 8am. We all met at Snug in the morning and did make it off the dock by 0806. There was another report of whales heading northeast at East Point at 0745.
After heading through Johns Pass and up Boundary Pass, we passed East Point by 0840. We sighted whales soon afterwards and the encounter started at 0845 east of Tumbo Island. At first, we thought we had multiple pods because it looked like a lot of whales, but it was just J pod spread out abreast in a loose formation. They were traveling slowly north and appeared to be resting. They may have been waking up as the J19s and others moved ahead a little and other groups seemed to ooze towards the west. We made sure we had a proof of presence photo on everybody before we ended the encounter at 0926 a little northwest of where it started. Since more than J pod had been heard on the hydrophones the previous evening, we thought we should head north towards the Fraser River to take a look.

Photos taken under Federal Permits

NMFS PERMIT: 27038/DFO SARA 388