Encounter Summary: 

After leaving the Transient whales in Encounter 79, Ken Balcomb in "Orca" returned to Open Bay to encounter a very spread out assemblage of southern resident killer whales swimming northwest in Haro Strait. There were subgroups of mixed J and K whales, some foraging, and some engaged in social activity. The assemblage moved slowly offshore into the middle of Haro Strait and then gradually turned back toward the south near the confluence of Haro Strait and Speiden Channel, as they have done often in recent encounters and reports. Attempts were made to collect prey samples, but much of the whale swirling around was social and at the surface so long that if there were any prey remains associated, they sank before the whales moved on.

Notes-Comments: As Spencer on "Legacy" was leaving the whales after his respectful, mostly engine off, whale-watching trip of the afternoon, he called Ken to offer his naturalist's assistance in photo-documentation as the whales literally swam to and surrounded "Orca" on numerous occasions, making it impossible for one person to photograph them all. As the encounter ended around sunset, the whales "porpoised" off toward the south, as if they were in a hurry to meet another school of salmon coming in from the ocean. Maybe the UAS crew led by Dr. John Durban was able to document some of the foraging when the whales were further south earlier in the day before coming past CWR.