Date: 11-Jan-17

Sequence: 1

Encounter Number: 05

Enc Start Time: 1615

Enc End Time: 1655

Vessel: Morningstar

Observers: Tom and Jane Cogan

Pods or ecotype: Bigg's Transient killer whales

Location: Beaumont Shoals

Begin Lat/Long: 48 24.6N/123 13.3W

End Lat/Long: 48 27.2N/123 12.9W

Encounter Summary:

These whales were spotted off of the Victoria waterfront at 1320 and they were very difficult to track due to long dives and brief surfacing as the travelled in a generally easterly direction and then northeasterly toward Discovery Island and Haro Strait. The winter light was rapidly fading and the moon was rising when the whales were first spotted by Tom and Jane Cogan in "Morningstar". The visual identification of the whales as members of the T124As (minus T124A1) was confirmed in post analysis at CWR.

Notes-Comments:This encounter was conducted under whale watch guidelines with the vessel remaining several hundred yards away from the whales.