Bigg’s whales encountered by CWR

EncSummary: The team was working in the office while keeping tabs on whale reports.  The T49As plus T50D and T50B1 were reported traveling up San Juan Channel and, when they got closer, the team mobilized and headed down to Snug Harbor.  We left in “KCB3” at 1450, headed through Mosquito Pass, and got on scene about a mile west of Jones Island.  The encounter began at 1511.  Since we had intended it to mainly be a drone encounter, we immediately launched the drone for the first of several flights.  The T49As (minus T49A1 and T49A2) plus T50D and T50B1 were in a loose group traveling slowly west towards Spieden Channel.  Once the whales made it to Spieden Channel, they moved over to the Spieden shoreline and traveled slowly along it.  Around 1605, the whales began milling as if they made a kill of a probable harbor seal.  After they were finished milling, the whales continued slowly paralleling the Spieden shoreline and covered the area between Sentinel Island and Spieden Island while on a long dive.  They then moved northwest towards the Stuart Island shoreline.  After our last flight, we moved in for one photo-ID pass before leaving the whales heading northwest off Tiptop Hill at 1656.