Encounter #007 • March 13, 2009 • T's

Mark Malleson spotted splashing and fins offshore of Ten Mile Point, Vancouver Island at 1015 and notified me (KCB) that it looked like Transient killer whales beating up on something in Haro Strait. I cast off from Oak Bay in "Orca" at 1043 and found the whales near Fulford Reef at 1058 still beating up an adult male Steller sea lion weighing approximately one ton. The T100's, T101's and T124's were explosively ramming and tossing the sea lion into the air, while adult male T102 and sub-adult male T97 circled in the background. The whales were being very careful to avoid being bitten or slashed by the canine teeth of the sea lion and were mostly hitting it from behind or below. At 1140 it was all over for the sea lion and the young whales began breaching while the adult females submerged for minutes at a time. The males appeared to be involved in sex play and gulls swirled and dove for sea lion scraps. I left them south of Discovery Island at 48 degrees 23.42 minutes N by 123 degrees 12.2 minutes W in a sloppy ebbing tide.