CWR encounters ‘just another day’ with Southern Residents

EncSummary: The day after J and part of L pod came in, we got our first report of SRs mid-morning coming down Boundary Pass. The team headed down to the boat and left Snug Harbor at 1055. We headed north up Haro Strait and saw our first whales as they were rounding Turn Point. The encounter began at 1115.

We had a couple of the J16s, J38, and L106 pass by us spread out offshore, but we almost immediately saw the calf inshore of us, and we went there first. This morning, L130 was traveling between L118 and L125. L122 was also nearby. The calf still looked healthy and active, but it traveling with L118 was a confusion we didn’t need. The L82s and L115 were also spread out a little west of the group with the calf. The J31s could be seen further offshore. L86 showed up, and L130 began traveling with her just to confuse things even more. The J35s and J53 porpoised by inshore of us. The L72s and L83s were traveling together in a tight foursome a little behind the other loosely spread L pod whales. We also saw L55 and L109 way inshore towards North Kellett Bluff. L130, in an effort to confuse the hell out of us, also traveled some with L83. L90, L91, and L122 were part of the spread-out L pod group near the L72s and L83s, and we did see L130 briefly get back with L91, but then it went off to play with one of the other females again. We would have liked to stay with this group to see if L130 had a more obvious mother, but the whales entered a large tidal area with some big standing waves. We also had to get out of the way of a freighter after its impatient and horn-honking captain turned the ship way out of the shipping lane to go around a clueless yachty putting across the strait on his way to Sydney.

We were down off North Kellett when we were finally clear of the freighter. The J35s and J53 surfed past us in the wake of the freighter. Since the L pod whales were still up to the north of us in the sloppy water, we headed over to Kellett Bluff where we had seen a few whales. This group was the J37s. They were heading south along the rocks of the bluff in a loose group. We ended the encounter with these whales just south of Kellett Bluff at 1226 due to breezy sea conditions down the west side.