EncDate: 21/04/22 

EncSeq: 1

Enc#: 18

ObservBegin: 04:45 AM

ObservEnd: 07:00 PM

Vessel: Orcinus

Staff: Dave Ellifrit

Other Observers: Kelley Balcomb-Bartok

Pods: Transients

LocationDescr: Haro Strait, Spieden Channel, New Channel

Start Latitude: 48 35.37

Start Longitude: 123 12.42

End Latitude: 48 37.71

End Longitude: 123 10.52

 

EncSummary:

Dave was home when he actually received a real time text late afternoon from Jane Cogan relaying a report of whales heading north in Andrews Bay. Usually Dave’s cell service is so bad at home that a cell phone is pretty much useless. Thinking that there might be time to see them from CWR’s porch, Dave flew out the door and made it over to the Center in time to see one straggler pass by. Kelley had said that a small group had gone by, followed by a male, and that there were a couple of trailers. One of these was a male that we got a dot shot on and it turned out to be T19B. Kelley’s photo of the other male was of T19C so the T18s were present along with another group. It was going to be a nice evening so we decided to go out on them.
Dave and Kelley then headed down to Snug Harbor and left in the boat at 1635. The whales were right around the corner near Kellett Bluff and the encounter started at 1645. They were in two groups with one group near the north bluff shoreline and another a little offshore and behind. When they went down for a long dive, the two groups merged together and turned northwest in a single loose group. After another long dive, the group split into two again with the T18s moving inshore to the Henry Island shoreline while the other group milled about a half mile offshore of them. The milling group was the four whales belonging to the T23Ds-a family that is not very common in the central Salish Sea compared to some other groups. The T23Ds then turned northeast and began traveling toward Battleship Island. The T18s travelled north along the Henry Island also toward Battleship but were going down for really lengthy long dives. The T23Ds passed Battleship on the west side and then continued on toward Center Reef. The T18s passed between McCracken Point and Battleship Island, turned east into Spieden Channel, and then traveled past both the north entrances to Roche Harbor and Pearl Island. We left the T18s still heading east on the SJI side of eastern Spieden Channel to head back to the T23Ds.
The T23Ds had moved over to Spieden Island’s western end and headed east on the inside of Sentinal Island. They let the tide take them as they traveled along the rocks of Spieden Island. There were lots of Steller sea lions at Green Point on the east tip of Spieden who were very upset that the T23Ds dared to pass their haul out at close range. The T23Ds then turned west again and traveled along Spieden Island’s north shoreline toward New Channel. The T18s had turned northeast in eastern Spieden Channel and we last caught a glimpse of them near Flattop Island. The T23Ds continued west in New Channel in a tight group. When they made it to Spieden’s western tip, they stopped and milled for a brief time before deciding to head southwest. We ended the encounter at 1900 with the T23Ds again approaching Battleship Island.