Date: 19-March-17

Sequence: 1

Encounter Number: 24

Enc Start Time: 12:37

Enc End Time: 13:55

Vessel: Mike 1

Observers: Mark Malleson, Gord Rowles

Pods or ecotype: Jpod

Location: ODAS

Begin Lat/Long: 48 22.9/123 06.6

End Lat/Long: 48 15.9/123 12.7

 

Encounter Summary:

Gord Rowles and I left Victoria Harbour on Mike 1 at 0945.  We headed west along the Canadian shoreline. At 1100 we received a report that Ivan Reiff had spotted several killer whales from South Beach, SJI that were northwest of Hein Bank heading north west or west. We turned around and headed that way to confirm ID's. Ivan had reported that Jeanne Hyde had spotted another group from Hannah Heights that was further south than his group. We continued towards Middle Bank and then heard that a small group of 3 or 4 individuals were spotted west of Hein Bank, southwest bound. There was a larger group a mile to the south also traveling southwest. We confirmed it was J Pod and that they were in a resting formation of 15 or 16 individuals including the J22s, J19s, J11s, J17, J46, and J53. We slowly worked our way to the south and came across J16, J50, and J42. We saw what looked like J36 and J52 but didn't have an opportunity to photograph them. Further to the south, I spotted a couple of bulls on the horizon separated by a half mile or more. I was able to photograph J26. Tom Mitchell and Russ Nicks confirmed sighting L87. When we ended our encounter with J Pod they were making good progress to the southwest with a building ebb current.