CWR Encounter #90 with Bigg’s Killer Whales

EncSummary: The team had been working in the office while keeping tabs on a couple of groups of Bigg’s nearby in Spieden Channel. The team eventually headed down to Snug Harbor and left in “KCB3” at 1118. The whales, the T35As and T49As, plus T50D and T50B1, had traveled up the Stuart Island shoreline and were in two groups when we arrived on scene just south of Turn Point at 1140. The rear group was approaching the light while the lead group was just around the corner. The two groups of Bigg’s initially looked like they were going up Boundary Pass, but they soon turned and headed north towards Swanson Channel. The rear whales caught up to the leading group and all the whales joined together into one loose group. The young males, T35A2 and T49A3 were rolling and socializing with one another on the periphery of the larger group. The main group, a little ahead and to the northeast of the pair, headed up mid-Swanson Channel and stayed out of the no-boat zone along the bluffs. The youngest whales, T49A7, T35A5, and T35A1A, were active and playing with one another. We had a couple of good left side photo-ID passes and ended the encounter at 1250 with all the whales still traveling up mid-Swanson Channel off the north end of the Pender bluffs.