Encounter Summary: 

In the afternoon, Mark Malleson called to relay a report that a friend of his had seen 8-10 killer whales spread out across Saanich Inlet off Patricia Bay heading south. Since it was a beautiful day and Mark had already been on the 20 transients in three groups that had been in the southeastern Strait of Juan de Fuca, Dave decided to try for the Saanich Inlet whales. Dave headed down to Snug Harbor and left aboard Orcinus at 1450.

Dave finally found whales at 1605 down in the Malahat area of southern Saanich Inlet. T23, T23C and her two offspring were traveling slowly south mid-inlet in a tight group. Other whales, including T19B, were traveling south along the east shoreline and paralleling the whales mid-inlet. The whales along the shoreline with T19B were T18, T23D, and T23D's two offspring and they continued south along the shoreline in a loose group to less than a mile north of the marina at the bottom of Saanich Inlet. Another couple of whales were seen farther south in the inlet.

Around 1620, T23 and the T23C's began milling and turned back north. The two whales who were the furthest south in the inlet also turned around and came back north. This was T19 and T19C and they joined T23 and T23C's and this group of six headed slowly north in a tight group. This group spread out some a little later as they headed north. The group with T19B, T18, and the T23D's also turned north and were heading back up the east shoreline. There was some social behavior going on and T19B could often be seen swimming upside down underwater as he followed T23D around. Orcinus ended the encounter with this group about 3/4 of a mile north of Christmas Point on the eastern shoreline of Saanich Inlet at 1716.