EncDate:26/09/22 

EncSeq:2

Enc#:67

ObservBegin:03:20 PM

ObservEnd:04:40 PM

Vessel:Mike 1

Staff:Mark Malleson

Other Observers:Joe Zelwietro, Ród King

Pods:J, L

LocationDescr:Camper Creek

Start Latitude:48 30.38

Start Longitude:124 36.57

End Latitude:48 31.75

End Longitude:124 38.01

 

EncSummary:

After a great encounter with several grey whales south of the Nitinat bar, and a scattering of humpback whales throughout the coast, the guys were headed back to the east, on the lookout for black dorsal fins. At 1520 they stopped just north of a small concentration of humpback whales, roughly nine nautical miles east of where they had left the L pod animals earlier in the day, and again an attempted hydrophone drop was interrupted by a bull killer whale in the distance. As Mike 1 approached and slowed, the crew noticed that there were several small groups of milling, social whales, and the first photographs revealed members of J pod having now joined the original L12 and L54 subgroups.
J19 was leading J46 and the L77s west, the L54s and L22 were nearby with J44 and J47, and J39 and L25 were filling the space between those two groups. The three bulls from the L pod groups (L85, L88 and L108) were the only animals not obviously socializing with the others, each travelling solo on the periphery of the group. Most members of J pod and the L pod subgroups were documented, including the recently elusive J27 finally being photographed for the first time in the Port Renfrew survey to finish the encounter. The Mike 1 crew turned back to Port Renfrew at 1640, all animals now trending west at the west entrance to the Juan de Fuca Strait.