Center for Whale Research encounter with J and L Pods

EncSummary: With a report of Southern Residents eastbound near Race Rocks, Mark mobilized Mike 1 with a couple of colleagues from work, Rajan and Abigail. With a big flood current, he aimed for Constance Bank, hoping to find the lead animals. It was late in the day, and the whales have a tendency to fan out after passing Race Rocks, so it would be very tricky to photograph all present, but Mark hoped to at least determine which pods/matrilines were present. With help from Gord spotting with Big Eyes from his “Crow’s Nest”, Mark came across the lead animals moving quickly east less than two miles south of Constance Bank.

He was able to confirm spread-out members of J pod, J36 being the first animal they encountered, followed closely by J42. J35 and J47 were the next individuals they were able to photograph, as it appeared to be only spread-out Js in this lead group. Apart from what looked like a brief foraging attempt from J49, J40 and J63, all the animals they could see were moving with purpose at more than 6 knots toward San Juan Island. The crew could see spread-out single whales to the south of them and, after consulting with Gord from his lookout, Mark was fairly confident it was just J pod present, so he decided to work his way west to see if any others were trailing.

As Mike 1 idled west, Mark received a report that there were more eastbound killer whales seen west of Constance Bank by some commercial whale watch boats viewing humpbacks. This group was nearly 8 nautical miles behind the Js. The Mike 1 crew approached that area and came across a sprouter male near Constance Bank, which they confirmed was L115! Trailing him slightly were the extended L12s, followed by the L54s and L88.

These trailing Ls were not in as much of a hurry as the lead Js but were also heading east towards San Juan Island.
With daylight running out, it was time to call it a day, and they ended the encounter at 2036. Although the only L4 seen was L115, Abigail had seen another fairly large group to the north of the L54s, which was likely the remaining Ls.

Note: The following morning at 0630, Rachelle watched all of J pod go north through Active Pass, and the Center for Research team spent the morning with the L12s and L54s along San Juan Island; the balance of L Pod was in Rosario. While Ks had made a brief foray into the region a few days prior, there was no sign of them this evening.