EncDate: 17/10/21

EncSeq: 1

Enc#: 83

ObservBegin: 12:20 PM

ObservEnd: 01:05 PM

Vessel: Orcinus

Staff: Dave Ellifrit

Pods: Transients

LocationDescr: Haro Strait

Start Latitude: 48 35.15

Start Longitude: 123 13.01

End Latitude: 48 35.22

End Longitude: 123 15.30

 

EncSummary:

Jane Cogan called Dave around 1115 on a gray, drippy morning to relay a report of a group of transients chasing a minke whale north past Lime Kiln. There was a chance of seeing them from CWR so Dave flew out the door as quickly as possible. Dave arrived at CWR around 1130 just in time to take a few photos from the deck of the lone minke whale porpoising north past the reef. There were no longer any killer whales chasing it but it was getting the hell out of Dodge anyway. A small group of transients showed up at least a mile offshore heading slowly northeast toward Kellett Bluff. Dave took a few dot shots from the porch and, after looking at some photos on the back of the camera, realized that the male looked like T2C1. Since Dave hadn’t seen the T2Cs in a couple of years, and the rain was rather light, he decided to see if he could get some ID photos of them. He then headed down to Snug Harbor and left in the boat around 1210.

The encounter started at 1220 about a half mile southwest of Henry Island. The T2Cs were in a tight group and were moving slowly north. There were only four whales as T2C4 was not present. The whales turned northwest toward Halibut Island before going on a long dive. When the whales came up again, they were well on the Canadian side of Haro Strait and were now heading south. For the next half hour, the T2Cs zig-zagged on their long dives back and forth across the strait. Since the whales didn’t seem to want to be bothered, and it was starting to rain harder, Dave ended the encounter at 1305 about three quarters of a mile north of Kelp Reef without ever getting a proper photo ID pass out of them.