EncDate:10/04/24 

EncSeq:1

Enc#:33

ObservBegin:11:52 AM

ObservEnd:12:12 PM

Vessel:KCB III

Staff:Dave Ellifrit, Michael Weiss

Other Observers:Molly Henling, Carli Lourie

Pods:Bigg's killer whales

LocationDescr:Haro Strait

Start Latitude:48 26.45

Start Longitude:123 00.92

End Latitude:48 26.59

End Longitude:122 58.85

 

EncSummary:

The morning started with a report of Southern Residents in south Rosario Strait heading southwest. There was also a nice group of Bigg’s off the south end of San Juan Island. We decided to go out and look for the SRs and maybe see the Bigg’s on the way. The team met at Snug Harbor and left in KCB3 at 1055 with a quick trip to the Roche Harbor fuel dock on the way.

The Bigg’s were the T36As and T49As and we arrived on scene as they were off American Camp around 1152. The group was loosely spread out in singles, pairs, and maybe a threesome. They were all heading quickly east towards Cattle Point. The young males T36A3 and T49A4 were rolling around together as were T36A5 and T49A6 nearby. We believe T36A5 is a male after he rolled over, exposing his sea snake. The young females T36A2 and T49A5 were also traveling together slightly behind the mom whales who were traveling together in the lead with one or two of their littlest ones bouncing around. T49A1 was ever so slightly at the rear of the group but was still a part of it. T49A2 and T49A3 had been reported to be in the area but had separated from the rest of the group and we never saw them. After a pretty quick pass on the T36As and T49As where we got some right sides, we decided we needed to leave and go look for the SRs as there had been no reports of them since the initial one. We ended the encounter with the Bigg's at about 1212 off South Beach with the whales still heading quickly towards Cattle Point.