EncDate31/05/23 

Enc#:23

ObservBegin:12:24 PM

ObservEnd:03:42 PM

Vessel:Orcinus

Staff:Dave Ellifrit

Other Observers:Rachel John

Pods:J

LocationDescr:Boundary Pass and Haro Strait

Start Latitude:48 43.47

Start Longitude:123 03.94

End Latitude:48 35.15

End Longitude:123 12.19

 

EncSummary:

Dave was working in the office when he heard over the radio that J pod had been found heading south a little north of East Point. He contacted Rachel and they met Snug Harbor and then left in the boat at 1146. After heading through Johns Pass, we arrived on scene off Skipjack Island where a couple of boats were watching a single whale from a distance that we never saw. We started the encounter there at 1224 but we had to do a little searching before we could find another whale that we were told was a good ways west of the whale that we never saw. We headed north past Skipjack Island and then west towards Monarch Head when an adult male surfaced about a quarter mile to the southwest of us about mid-Boundary Pass. This was J26 and he was cruising southwest towards Turn Point. He was the only whale that was in sight. After getting some shots of J26 we headed back up Boundary Pass towards Monarch Head. Another single male was seen to the north of us but he disappeared. After about ten minutes or so, he surfaced to the south of us. This was J27 and he was also cruising southwest towards Turn Point. As we were finishing up with J27, another whale showed up about a quarter mile to the northwest of us. This was J45 and he too was speeding toward Turn Point. We decided to head that direction in hopes of finding more whales and, after a few minutes, saw a few spread out blows as we got closer to the north side of Stuart Island. J46 was photographed as she sped toward Stuart Island. A few more spread out whales were to the east of her. One of these was J53 and she briefly came together with J42 as they also headed southwest towards Stuart. These whales, along with a few others, soon hit the shoreline on the north side of Stuart Island and headed west towards Turn Point. We went ahead and waited for the whales we could see to round the point.  

About fifteen minutes later, a loosely spread group of whales came around the corner. This was some of the whales we had been seeing plus a few others including the J22s and J37s. J26 breached twice. J38 did a couple of taillobs and J49, once he was a little south of the bluffs, breached three times in a row. The whales spread out again as they headed south down Haro Strait. We found J22 almost mid-strait off Tiptop Hill on Stuart island with J49 relatively nearby. J37 and J59 could be seen over a quarter of a mile east of these two. Except for a brief glimpse of J53 off the south end of Kellett Bluff, these were the only four whales we had in sight as we traveled south down Haro. The J37s reached Kellett Bluff a little before 1520. They traveled south along the rocks until the south end of the bluff and then turned back northwest. J22 had appeared in the tide rip off the south end of the bluff and, as she started chasing a salmon, the J37s moved in to help. The chase was soon over and the J37s turned back southeast. J59 began breaching repeatedly as they turned east into Mitchell Bay. The J37s soon turned south again and we ended the encounter at 1542 off the mouth of Open Bay.