EncDate:08/04/23 

EncSeq:1

Enc#:14

ObservBegin:04:22 PM

ObservEnd:05:45 PM

Vessel:Mike 1

Staff:Mark Malleson

Other Observers:Brendon Bissonnette

Pods:J, L

LocationDescr:East Sooke

Start Latitude:48 18.65

Start Longitude:123 39.84

End Latitude:48 18.04

End Longitude:123 44.84

 

EncSummary:

While out scanning the western Strait of Juan de Fuca from shore at Sheringham Point, at ~ 1400, Mark received a report that the Southern Resident killer whales who were seen traveling east into rough seas earlier in the day had flipped and were now heading west into calmer water. Mark quickly rushed back to Victoria and met Brendon at the dock, and they departed on Mike 1 at 1529. 

 

The encounter began at 1622 when Mark spotted the first pair of whales east of Secretary Island. Brendon identified these whales as L72 and her son, L105. These two were part of a subgroup of L pod encountered off Monterey Bay, California, along with members of K pod on March 18th. Mark and Brendon soon spotted more fins up ahead and to the south, leading them to believe that more than one pod was present. They decided to work their way ahead to the nearest animals, which proved to be another mother-son pair, L91, and L122. From there, the closest and largest group could be seen several hundred meters to the south, so they ventured over, and Brendon identified two mixed groups: one containing J40, J45, L83, L110, and L115, while the other group consisted of the L4s (minus L55, L109 & L118), J35s and J44. Soon, the two groups merged into one large social band with spy hops and tail-slaps. L115 was noted to be particularly animated and breached three times in quick succession.

 

After photographing and identifying these animals, Mark and Brendon moved to a small trailing group, which turned out to be J16, J26, and J42. Missing matriline member, J36, was later encountered a couple of hundred meters away alongside J53. 

 

Mark and Brendon could see more blows to the northeast and a few animals to the southeast, and the decision was made to move to the lead animals, which were identified as the J19s. They could not see any blows ahead of them and concluded that the rest of the unidentified whales in their survey were likely sprinkled throughout the already-observed whales, simply in smaller units. As Mike 1 ventured eastwards, Brendon spotted two more groupings to the southeast. The first group turned out to be a boisterous pairing of J39 and L109. The next set of whales were the J22s and J37s, trailing slightly behind the two sprouting bulls. 

 

Mark decided to take one last look at a lone whale nearby in the hopes that the animal was not previously identified, and luck was on their side as Brendon identified the female as J46. After a quick proof-of-presence photo, they ended the encounter with the westbound whales south of Sooke at 1745 and began making way for Victoria in a waning southeasterly wind.