Date: 20-April-17

Sequence: 1

Encounter Number: 30

Enc Start Time: 1120

Enc End Time: 1234

Vessel: Mike 1

Observers: Mark Malleson, Hanna Malleson, Pierre Magnusson, Eva Magnusson

Pods or ecotype: T124D's, T086A's

Location: Sansum Narrows

Begin Lat/Long: 48 47.1/123 33.5

End Lat/Long: 48 50.0.1/123 34.3

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Encounter Summary:

I left Victoria harbour at 940 with Hanna and her parents to go on a Transient search up north. The plan was to head up Haro, into Boundary Pass and make our way for East Point and potentially all the way up the outside of Saturna, Mayne and Galliano before returning via Porlier Pass and down the west side of Saltspring though Sansum Narrows. After a quick search around the Chain Islands of Oak Bay and Chatham and Discovery we continued up Haro Strait. At 1035, when we were a bit south of Kelp Reef, I received a call from a colleague who spotted killer whales entering Sansum Narrows heading north right at Separation Point as he was bringing a tug and barge south. We veered off to the north west and headed that way.
As we were entering Cowichan Bay at approximately 1105 we saw a slick and smelt a seal kill off Cape Keppel on Saltspring Island so suspected where these animals had been previously. At 1120 we spotted the T124D's and T086A's circling around a seal in Sansum Narrows slightly north of Burial Island. After several minutes of circling around and letting T124D's new calf get a good look at the hunt they got the seal and grouped up as they shared it on their northward travel. Several commerical whale watch boats arrived and we decided to end our encounter at 1234 as they were traveling at a steady 5 knots north bound along the shoreline of Saltspring Island slightly south of Crofton pulp mill.