EncDate: 20/01/21

EncSeq: 1

Enc#: 05

ObservBegin: 02:50 PM

ObservEnd: 04:35 PM

Vessel: Orcinus

Staff:Dave Ellifrit

Pods: J

LocationDescr: Haro Strait

Start Latitude: 48 32.79

Start Longitude: 123 11.00

End Latitude: 48 28.34

End Longitude: 123 06.32

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EncSummary:

Dave had just noticed some texts from Jane Cogan saying she was hearing J pod calls on their hydrophone when the phone rang. John Durban called to say they were out on their research boat “Helen” with some K13s (or at least K34) northeast of D’Arcy Island and were just barely on the American side. It was sounding like SRs had come down Haro Strait mostly on the Canadian side. Mark and Joe had headed out in “Mike 1” to get photos of the whales on the Canadian side of the border. With hope that a few whales would be still be on the American side of the border, Dave grabbed his gear, headed to Snug Harbor, and left in the boat at 1425. Once he was out into Mitchell Bay, he gave the SR3 Drone team a call on the radio to see if there were any whales that the US researchers could get to. They soon replied back that they had a few spread out whales south of Lime Kiln. Excellent. As Dave started to head south, he got a call on the radio from Tom Cogan saying they were seeing a pleasure boat with maybe something out in the direction of Baynes Channel. Dave pointed offshore a bit and began heading that way. The pleasure boat had vanished but a male killer whale came up right in the direction “Orcinus” was heading. This was J27 and he was traveling slowly south about a mile west of the County Park and the encounter began there at 1450.
After J27 went down for a long dive, Dave headed down island to find some other whales. “Orcinus” went around “Helen” flying a drone over J39 off Land Bank while he was chasing a salmon (he caught the fish) to see if any whales were south of him. Further southeast, Dave saw what appeared to be a logging whale but, as he got closer, it turned into a “logging whale log”. There was a lot of logs and driftwood floating around and Dave did a number “Orcinus’s” port trim tab after he hit a large one while heading in the direction of a blow heard. That whale turned out to be J39 and he was moving southeast off the south end of False Bay. Since he was not seeing any whales south of J39, Dave headed back up island to find a whale that “Helen” said they thought was J22 as they watched her chase and catch a salmon. A whale appeared off Kanaka Bay and it was indeed J22 and she was still milling and foraging in that area. “Helen” then reported that they had J31, J56, and J46 off Hannah Heights so those were the next whales to go too. They were in a loose group heading southeast toward Kanaka Bay. J46 and J56 came together and milled briefly like they may have been chasing or sharing a fish. By 1620, the light was fading but “Helen” had found one last group on their way home while Dave was photographing J31, J56, and J46. J26 and J45 were heading southeast off Hannah Heights while J27 was offshore heading southwest. J26 and J45 then took a hard right, headed southwest, and spread out. The encounter ended at 1635 about a mile off Hannah Heights with J26 as he steamed southwest and out.