EncDate:13/03/23 

EncSeq:1

Enc#:09

ObservBegin:05:50 PM

ObservEnd:06:32 PM

Vessel:Mike 1

Staff:Mark Malleson

Pods:Transients

LocationDescr:Ten Mile Point

Start Latitude:48 28.38

Start Longitude:123 16.77

End Latitude:48 31.55

End Longitude:123 17.75

 

EncSummary:

At 1640 Mark received a shore-based report of two or three eastbound killer whales passing the shoreline along the Victoria Golf Course in Oak Bay. He alerted Joe, and they set out to catch up to the animals on Mike 1. Subsequent reports put the whales through Baynes Channel and traveling north offshore of Ten Mile Point, where Mark and Joe arrived on scene with two bulls approaching the Johnstone Reef marker at 1750. 

They quickly confirmed the two were, in fact, brothers T049A1 and T049A2, who do not often travel with their mother and four younger siblings. As wandering bulls, they are sometimes encountered together and sometimes alone or with other matrilines. Interestingly, T049A2 dispersed much earlier than his elder brother. T049A1’s most recently documented foray into the Salish Sea was with the T124A2 matriline in Puget Sound in February, while T049A2 was last observed here when the pair were together in the Strait of Georgia throughout January.

The two whales were traveling north across Johnstone Reef when Mike 1 reached them and continued on toward Zero Rock throughout the encounter. They averaged five knots and, for 10-12 minutes in the middle of the encounter, were traveling shoulder to shoulder. They passed west of the Zero Rock marker, and with no sign of predation at the frequent seal haul out, Mark and Joe ended the encounter at 1832 and headed for home, the whales still making good time north, now aiming at Sidney Channel.