Date:  22-Oct-2017

Sequence: 1

Encounter Number: 97

Enc Start Time: 15:46

Enc End Time: 16:05

Vessel: Mike 1

Observers: Mark Malleson

Pods or ecotype: Transients

Location: Bechey Head

Begin Lat/Long: 48 18.6/123 43.1

End Lat/Long: 48 17.5/123 39.0

 

Encounter Summary:

I left the harbour at 1237 on Mike 1 in hopes to relocate a group of west bound CA transients that were spotted south of Race Rocks and then lost in big seas from the moderate westerly south of Becher Bay.
I ran the shoreline out as far as Sooke and then quartered my way out to the middle of the Juan de Fuca on a line for Pillar Point hoping to spot them with the backlighting. I had heard they were moving quickly when last seen doing close to 8 knots over the bottom with the outgoing current. I went close to 16 miles west of where they were last seen within 2.5 hours of their last sighting which put me north of Clallam Bay. The seas had settled down substantially but no luck. I I then turned north and ran towards Sheringham lighthouse and then worked my way back within a mile of the Vancouver Island shoreline. The seas started getting bigger the further east I went but as I was passing Secretary Island I spotted an east bound bull a half mile to the south of me in the trough of the westerly swell. I immediately recognized him to be T011A and eventually spotted T011 within a half mile south of him. I left them when they were south of Becher Bay after handing them off to the few Victoria whale watch boats that were watching humpbacks near Race Rocks.