EncDate:23/09/23 

EncSeq:1

Enc#:57

ObservBegin:01:00 PM

ObservEnd:02:11 PM

Vessel:Mike 1

Staff:Mark Malleson

Pods:Transients

LocationDescr:Sooke

Start Latitude:48 20.17

Start Longitude:123 43.20

End Latitude:48 21.39

End Longitude:123 45.64

 

EncSummary:

Mark and Fin set off in the morning, leaving Victoria Harbour at 0745 with plans to survey the Juan de Fuca Strait. They passed several lunge-feeding humpbacks off Pedder Bay as they made their way to Race Passage and turned west out the Vancouver Island coast. With overcast skies and light rain starting, they pushed on as the sea conditions were decent, with little wind and flat seas. At ~ 1030, as Mike 1 approached Magdellena Point, Mark could see several humpback whales in the mist ahead. He started to work through the aggregation of what appeared to be close to 50 animals to get some tail fluke identification pictures. They were spread over several miles from within a mile of the shoreline to five miles offshore and as far west as Sombrio Point. 
Within a few minutes of being on scene, the skies opened up and they were now in a torrential downpour!
Mark could barely keep his camera dry by cowering under the enclosed T-top and shooting out either side when an opportunity arose. He got close to twenty individuals photographed before he got word that some Bigg's killer whales were spotted south of Race Rocks working their way northwest. He then received report of another group spotted near Port Angeles headed northwest.
At ~1200, Mark decided to make his way back towards the east towards clearer skies and the killer whales that he had unfortunately missed on his westward quest.
At 1235, he got word that the group seen just south of Race Rocks were last seen moving quickly west along the shoreline of East Sooke Park at the west edge of Becher Bay. They were reported doing 6 knots, so Mark calculated that he would come across them near Secretary Island when he arrived at ~1300. At 1259, he spotted the blows tight against the shoreline at Possession Point inside Secretary Island. It was a group of 5 individuals, the T109s: T109, a 46-year-old female with her ten-year-old son, T109E, and her 16-year-old daughter, T109D, with two offspring of her own.
They were on a mission as they continued along the kelp line close to shore, maintaining 6 knots towards the entrance to Sooke Harbor. They rounded Whiffin Spit and made their way through the channel to the docks at the Prestige Hotel before turning around and retracing their steps out of the harbor, surprisingly without any signs of predation.
They continued along the kelp line to the west, and off the Sooke Bluffs T109 stalled out as if she were stalking a seal. 
After several minutes of T109 milling around in the kelp forest while the others were stalled out nearby, the family continued to the west until it appeared they finally flushed the initial seal or another one out of the dense kelp forest. It was then apparent that they finally had some lunch! 
Mike 1 ended the encounter at 1411 after watching the group finish prey sharing before they continued northwest into Sooke Bay.