Date: 07-March-19

Sequence: 1

Encounter Numbe: 13

Enc Start Time: 11:07

Enc End Time: 13:07

Vessel: Mike 1

Observers: Mark Malleson, Hanna Magnusson

Pods or ecotype: Bigg's

Location: Victoria's waterfront

Begin Lat/Long: 48 23.9/123 27.0

End Lat/Long: 48 24.3/123 18.7

 

Encounter Summary:

I received a report a group from a colleague on a tugboat who saw a group of killer whales between Albert Head and William Head a mile offshore travelling north east.

 

Hanna and I mobilized Mike 1 and left Victoria harbour at 1045. We spotted them at 1107 slightly north east of Albert Head moving very slowly towards Victoria's harbour mouth. They were doing close to 7 minute dives and making less than 2 knots, likely resting.

 

After ~ 30 minutes they picked up the pace to close to 6 knots after crossing a tide line and worked their way past Clover Point within a hundred metres of shore. They milled about for less than a minute offshore of Harling Point before continuing on towards Enterprise channel. We left them at 1307 as a couple of commercial whale watch boats arrived.

 

We did not observe any predation for the 2 hour encounter.