Encounter Summary: 

I had to get up early this morning to get to Victoria by 0900 for a VIP whalewatch on “Goldwing”. Haro Strait was glass calm and beckoning me to do a little exploring for whales enroute, so I took “Chimo” down island to Eagle Point whereupon I found a few spread-out whales. Nothing along the coast to that point, but the first whale I saw was K27 plodding northwest toward False Bay. She was followed by her four-year old son, K44, and flanked by a whale that I have been wanting to see – K25. After obtaining confirming photographs of the mother and son, I spent a few minutes with K25 to document the lesions left by his satellite tag – they are still very apparent as relatively large bumps on the starboard side of his dorsal fin. I had seen them in photographs that Dave took from the porch with him at a distance of a quarter mile on 11 June, and they are also apparent on photographs taken by Dave and Barbara on 21 June. There is definitely something going on in this accumulation of tissue that may be preventing it from reforming into a more hydrodynamic surface.

I spent about fourteen minutes with these whales before heading off to Victoria.