Encounter Summary:

While spotting from land near Port Angeles, Ken Balcomb spotted a lone male orca out in the Strait of Juan de Fuca in the early morning. Whales were later found several miles southeast of Race Rocks and these turned out to be transients. Radio talk tracked these whales throughout the morning and early afternoon as they headed slowly northeast or east toward Hein Bank. Another small group of transients was found near Beaumont Shoal. This group was reported to be the T38s (perhaps the T38As and T35s who Mark Malleson had seen the day before) and they moved toward Middle Bank and eventually lost the boats that were on them. The T11s were also found near Victoria and they moved east toward Discovery Island.
Dave headed down to Snug Harbor and left aboard “Orcinus” at 1440. “Orcinus” headed first to the larger group southwest of Hein Bank and arrived on scene at 1535. The T10s, T36As, T37As, and T65Bs were in a single group traveling slowly east southeast. By 1630, this group was couple miles south-southwest of the “RA” buoy that is south of Hein Bank and they were now heading slowly east. The T37As separated slightly from the larger group by about a hundred yards to the west but still paralleled them. “Orcinus” ended the encounter at 1632 and, since the Middle Bank Ts had disappeared by this time, headed north toward the T11s who had headed east through Baynes Channel and were now heading north in Cordova Bay.