EncDate:21/03/23 

FolderID:20230321DKE_GI1

EncSeq:1

Enc:10

ObservBegin:01:06 PM

ObservEnd:02:45 PM

Vessel:Orcinus

Staff:Dave Ellifrit

Pods:Transients

LocationDescr: Sidney Channel and lower Gulf Islands

Start Latitude:48 33.41

Start Longitude:123 16.85

End Latitude:48 40.15

End Longitude:123 21.17

EncSummary:Dave was working in CWR’s photo-ID office when he heard over the radio that Mark Malleson had found a small group of transients (T87 and the T124A2s) heading north off Gordon Head on his way home from a PoW trip. Dave ran down to Snug Harbor and left in the boat at 1245. Mark stuck around long enough for “Orcinus” to arrive on scene off the southwest corner of D’Arcy Island and the encounter started at 1306.
T87 and the T124A2s were traveling northwest towards the James Island side of Sidney Channel. They were traveling in a mostly tight formation although occasionally an individual would drift a ways away before coming back. Long dives were usually in the 5-7 minute range. There was one instance of milling off of the southeast side of James Island but it was uncertain whether they got something there. The four whales continued northwest up Sidney Channel on the James Island side. Once north of James Island, the group turned north and traveled in the direction of Moresby Island. The whales passed the tip of Sidney Spit and were approaching the west end of Forrest Island when they went on a long dive. After five minutes or so, T124A2A came up for a few non-directional surfacings by himself. Then he went down again and T124A2 began surfacing by herself. When T124A2 went back down on a long dive, T124A2B began surfacing. T87 surfaced a couple hundred yards to the northwest but he turned around and came slowly back towards where the T124A2s were milling. It was obvious they had a seal pinned on the bottom there. T124A2 charged briefly to the west while T87 did a half breach and followed it up with a tail lob. A kill must have been made as the four whales came back together and began heading north again. While the prey was never seen, there was a strong whiff of blubber oil as they whales passed by (and under) the boat. The foursome seemed to be prey sharing and there was one quick spyhop out of T124A2B. The encounter ended at 1445 as the whales looked like they were angling northwest around the corner of Dock Island.
Later, Dave was already back on shore and running errands when he received a report of another group probable Bigg’s heading north off of Lime Kiln. Mark, who was at the end of his afternoon trip, planned to find these whales on his way home. Dave made it to the Snug Harbor parking lot where he read a text from Mark saying he had found the T99s close in to Bellevue Point. Thinking maybe there would be potential for a decent pass-by from the deck, Dave headed to CWR. Dave alerted Kelley and the two of them were talking on the deck while waiting for something to show up. Mark had left already and there no signs of any whales coming. While chatting, Kelley and Dave were distracted by the flop and splash of what we thought might have been a flatfish or rockfish (something brown and fish-like, not a mink) closer to the beach than the reef. Right afterwards, a series of small fluke prints appeared in quick succession pointed away from shore. Then more small fluke prints appeared heading north. Finally, after some moments of confusion over what was happening, a small whale surfaced behind the trees (luckily no leaves yet). This was T99D but his wake was being paralleled by calf-sized fluke prints. It really looked like the youngest members of the T99s may have been chasing a bottom fish. T99 came up nearby T99D heading north while T99B was milling and logging just north of CWR. T99C was further offshore. All the T99s headed north and were out of sight by 1625.

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