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EncDate:14/03/24 

EncSeq:1

Enc#*:20

ObservBegin:03:00 PM

ObservEnd:05:15 PM

Vessel:Orcinus

Other Vessel:

Staff:Mark Malleson, Joe Zelwietro

Pods:Bigg's killer whales

LocationDescr:south west of Constance Bank

Start Latitude:48 16.88

Start Longitude:123 28.24

End Latitude:48 20.28

End Longitude:123 22.83

EncSummary:

After a few quiet days in the Juan de Fuca, Mark and Joe got word that a small group of killer whales had been discovered south of Race Rocks, making their way toward Constance Bank. They mobilized Mike 1 and departed Victoria just after 1430.
As they arrived with the whales near the VG buoy, four whales surfaced, angling toward the Victoria waterfront. Mark and Joe rattled off a few quick shots, confirming the presence of T046B1 and her offspring, along with T046C2, for a total of four whales. The whales dove in unison, and next surfaced well north after a 7 or 8-minute dive. A bit of a wanderer, T046C2 has spent much of the last year or more in the company of T046B1, T046B1A and T046B1C, or occasionally with related matrilines such as the T046Bs and T123s.
The team spent the next hour shadowing the whales from a little over a half mile, observing several prolonged sounding dives nearing nine minutes and multiple direction changes. The animals appeared several times to be foraging, particularly in strong tidelines offshore of Albert Head, but no obvious predation was observed. T046C2 was observed surfacing with what appeared to me flesh in her jaws early in the encounter, so it is possible the foursome had nabbed a meal prior to Mike 1 arriving.
After about an hour of this sustained long-dive, zig-zag travel pattern, the Mike 1 crew approached to collect right-side ID shots of all four and ended the encounter. They left the whales a mile or so west of Constance Bank, split up; T046C2 was on her own and travelling east approximately 0.75 nautical miles north of the T046B1 trio, who were angling more to the southeast.