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2018 Encounters

Encounter #27 - Apr 10, 2018

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Photos taken under Federal Permits

NMFS PERMIT: 15569-01/ DFO SARA 388

Date: 10-April-2018

Sequence: 1

Encounter Number: 27

Enc Start Time: 10:15

Enc End Time: 10:52

Vessel: Mike 1

Observers: Mark Malleson

Pods or ecotype: Transients/Bigg's

Location: Gordon's Beach

Begin Lat/Long: 48 21.4/123 49.9

End Lat/Long: 48 22.3/123 55.3

Encounter Summary:

I left Victoria harbor on Mike 1 at 0915 to follow up a report from Paul Pudwell of killer whales off of Sooke Harbour. I was enroute when he confirmed that T011 and T011A were westbound off of Sooke Bluffs. I decided to continue in case others were around. When I got off of Sooke, the westerly wind came on suddenly and was blowing close to 20 knots. With the adverse ebb current, the seas were 3 - 4 feet. I decided to slog my way at 7 - 11 knots as far as Sheringham with hopes of refinding them. When I was slightly west of Otter Point, I spotted T011A's dorsal fin a half mile directly off of my bow. I paralleled T011 and T011A for ~40 minutes until they reached Sheringham Point lighthouse. They were traveling between 5 and 6 knots westward with 3 or 4 breaths every 4 to 5 minutes. I didn't observe any predation.

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