EncDate:07/09/24 

EncSeq:3

Enc#:89

ObservBegin:02:24 PM

ObservEnd:02:38 PM

Vessel:Mike 1

Staff:Mark Malleson

Pods:Bigg's killer whales

LocationDescr:Otter Bay

Start Latitude:48 48.20

Start Longitude:123 19.81

End Latitude:48 49.55

End Longitude:123 20.17

 

EncSummary:

Just before Mark departed with the T075Bs, who were heading northwest along the Valdez Island shoreline (see Encounter 88), he received word about a group of Bigg’s killer whales spotted off the southern tip of South Pender Island. He was sent a video taken from shore, which revealed the unmistakable fin of T019B, also known as "Galiano," a 29-year-old bull. Alongside T019B were his mother and brother, who had been seen roaming the San Juan Islands and southern Vancouver Island with the T049As, minus the eldest sons, T049A1 and T049A2. 

Mark figured that the commercial whale-watching boats would soon find the whales, so he decided to head back to Victoria. He planned to retrace his route south through Porlier, with a quick detour to the west end of the Secretary Islands for proof-of-presence photos of T023D3 (see Encounter 87) and a bathroom break at Wallace Island for Fin. 

To his surprise, nearly an hour after the South Pender sighting, the commercial whale-watching boats had yet to locate the group. With this update, Mark decided to head toward the top end of North Pender to see if he could find them. As he approached Otter Bay at 1424, approximately 6 nautical miles and 1.5 hours from the original sighting, he spotted the whales along the northwestern shoreline of the ferry terminal! 

Mark immediately confirmed that it was indeed the group of eight whales he had suspected from the video he received when he approached the wide, left-leaning fin of T019B and the uniquely rippled fin of his 23-year-old brother, T019C. He ended the encounter 14 minutes later as the whales slowly passed the entrance to Navy Channel, on a course for Active Pass.