EncDate:04/08/22 

EncSeq:1

Enc#:46

ObservBegin:11:30 AM

ObservEnd:01:15 PM

Vessel:Orcinus

Staff:Dave Ellifrit

Pods:J, L

LocationDescr:Haro Strait

Start Latitude:48 35.37

Start Longitude:123 12.37

End Latitude:48 40.23

End Longitude:123 13.89

 

EncSummary:

Lodie called the office to let the team know that there were reports of Southern Residents coming up San Juan Island. Since the day was a bit breezy, we decided to drive down the west side and catch the whales from shore. After getting down to Land Bank, we realized we must have missed the whales in the blind spot as they headed north so we walked right back to the car and came home. We made back to CWR in time to see a large group of whales heading north just south of Sunset Point. More whales could be seen off Bellevue Point. Andrews Bay was lumpier than the water off Land Bank but not as bad as the water off the south end of San Juan Island. It looked like the conditions might be better north of Mitchell Bay. The large front group was all of J pod and they charged right past the reef with lots of surface behaviors and splashing. We were able to get a photo of everyone in J pod from the porch except for J35, J57, and J53 as they headed north. After J pod disappeared around the corner, we could see that the Bellevue Point whales were now a little south of Sunset Point. As this group passed CWR in another large, and active group, we could see that it was all of L pod except for the L54s and L88.

We decided to go out and try to get some IDs of the L pod whales so we quickly headed down to Snug Harbor and left in the boat at 1125. We saw whales in Mitchell Bay almost immediately and the encounter started at 1130 a little south of Kellett Bluff. L pod had spread out since they passed CWR and we saw several singles and loose pairs from Kellett Bluff to mid-Haro Strait. At the south end of the bluff, we saw L105 and L115 milling together. L83, L110 and maybe another one or two whales were also spread out near the bottom of Kellett. L85 and others were spread out farther offshore. We decided to head offshore while the inshore whales made their way around Kellett Bluff. We saw L121 but he was being difficult to photograph so we moved on to L85 offshore. L85 was relatively cooperative and we got a few rights on him while taking some proof of presence shots of more distant whales. To the northwest of L85 were other spread out whales. L124 and L125 were playing together but were being very difficult to photograph as the quick little whales zipped through less than calm seas. L119 was nearby and L77 and L86 were spread out west of the young whales. L103 and L118 were also out there in the direction of Halibut Island. We then began making our way back toward Henry Island, finding the sprouter L109 along the way. We then found L83 and L110 traveling slowly together offshore of Battleship Island. L110 is also now sprouting. Spread out and inshore of the L83s, were L55, L91, L122, and one or two others. L115 was behind them and we also caught a glimpse of L113 off the west end of Spieden Island. We then headed a little to the southwest where we saw a few milling whales. These whales went on a lengthy long dive and we got sidetracked by a bull to the northwest of us speeding north off of Tiptop Hill. We thought that was one of our L pod whales we were waiting for so we tried catching up to him. However, the bull turned out to be J38 so it looked like the leaders of the L pod whales were now bleeding into the trailers of J pod. J38 milled briefly like he might have been after a salmon and then we went looking for more L pod whales. After heading back south a bit, we found L25 traveling north by herself. It was nice to see L25 after not being able to find her on July 29th even though we had received a photo taken of her from shore that day by Sara Hysong-Shimazu. All the whales were still really spread out but we saw a few more whales closer to Stuart Island so we headed that way. We got on L105 again as he charged north. His mother, L72, also showed up briefly. We ended the encounter with the L72s off Tiptop Hill on Stuart Island at 1315.