Date: 20-May-17

Sequence: 1

Encounter Number: 35

Enc Start Time: 12:40

Enc End Time: 13:40

Vessel: Orcinus

Observers: Dave Ellifrit

Pods or ecotype: T86As, T124Ds, and T137s

Location: Sydney Channel

Begin Lat/Long: 48 34.37/123 18.06

End Lat/Long: 48 36.23/123 20.16

 

Encounter Summary:

After Jane Cogan called Dave at home a couple times to relay reports of a group of transients coming east through Baynes Channel and then heading north, he headed down to the boat and left Snug Harbor at 1220. Dave arrived on scene off the west side of D’Arcy Island at 1240. The T86As and T124Ds had just made a kill and had been joined by the T137s. All the whales were milling in a tight group until the T86As and T124Ds broke off and began traveling north toward Sydney Channel. T86A1 traveled loosely with the T124Ds while T86A, T86A3, and T86A4 paralleled their course about a hundred meters or so to the west.
The T137s had remained behind milling and feeding before hurrying north to catch up to the others. When they reached the lower end of Sydney Channel, the T137s became very active and T137B and T137D did several belly flops, half-breaches, and cartwheels. Even T137A did a cartwheel and waved his pecs around. The T86As and T124Ds had moved over to the shoreline on the southeast side of James Island when the T137s caught up to them around 1335. The two groups continued quickly north up Sydney Channel on the James Island side and the encounter basically ended at 1340 although Dave hung around well away from the whales until about 1420-spending most of that forty minutes chatting with colleagues on another research boat. Dave last saw the whales at 1420 in two paralleling groups again heading north off the town of Sydney.