T23s in Haro Strait Encounter #30 • Bigg’s Killer Whales

EncSummary: Michael and Dave were working in the office when they heard reports that T23 and the T23Ds were right across the way and heading northwest on the Canadian side of Haro Strait. Since these were Bigg’s we didn’t see very often, we decided to go out and get some ID photos of them. After arriving at Snug Harbor and leaving aboard “KCB3” at 1125, we arrived on scene at 1137, a couple of miles southwest of Kelp Reef. T23 and the T23Ds were in a tight formation and were pointed north when we first got there. After going on a long dive, the whales came up to the southeast of us and were now pointed more northeast. The whales came up from the next three long dives, pointing in a slightly different direction each time, and we were never in position for an ID pass.

The T23s had done a big slow loop before they finally picked northeast towards Mitchell Bay as their choice of direction. We were able to get our first photo-ID pass and, once the whales had crossed the border, we got the drone up for the first of three flights on the day. As the whales approached the south end of Andrews Bay, T23D4 and T23D5 broke off from the other four and went deep into the bay, and we lost sight of them for a while. The other four whales traveled slowly north about three-quarters of a mile offshore. The T23s spread out and foraged in Mitchell Bay and T23D4 and T23D5 reappeared. All six tucked into Open Bay briefly before coming back out in a single group. The T23s went around and up Kellett Bluff and then north near the Henry Island shoreline. The whales were just south of McCracken Point and loosely spread out when they pointed northwest and went around the west side of Battleship Island. T23D4 and T23D5 buzzed the boat and rolled over on their way by. From the drone footage, we could tell that both of these whales are females. We ended the encounter at 1348 just off the south tip of Battleship with the whales still slowly heading north off the west side of it. We putted through the channel between Battleship and McCracken Point while we put away our gear on our way towards the Roche Harbor fuel dock. As we were getting ready to turn towards the west entrance to Roche, the T23s just happened to come up nearby, now heading east in Spieden Channel. Since they were right there, we took one last pass for some right-side IDs before heading for the fuel dock.