11.02.2022
Summer Storm!
With extremely warm weather for Bremer Bay we were glad to be out on the water! A sweet 42 degrees forecast had us hot under the collar before the sun could rise this morning.
We had morning tea with El Notcho, Cookie, Oreo, Swirl, plus the rest of the pod. With slow surfaces we were able to fully take in their incredible strength and glossy skin. With passengers identifying the differences between each whale from their individual markings on their dorsal and eyepatches. It is always fun to get everyone onboard to identify them! By having a collective catalogue it helps with monitoring these pods in more ways than one. A big win for science!
It was a fresh calamari lunch kinda day. We came upon a bird swirl and below them were the remnants of a half-munched squid meal. There was what appeared to be fresh shark bite marks (most likely post-predation) on one section and the seabirds pulling at other parts.
The afternoon was spent with three more pods of orca. Nani and little calf Neo were here, with the ever wonky fin Wonks, plus the entire pod led by matriarch Split Tip.
Multiple close passes by this mob, with various Sunfish taking our attention away for a short second. We had sharks too, only small whaler types that never surfaced but a good sign of the diversity out here in the canyon. The orca were chugging along back towards the hotspot. I still get goosebumps when the big pods surface in synchro. The combination of over ten blows split seconds after each other and the big white eye patches coming out of the water. This is shortly followed by the sleek dorsals silently cutting out and then back in. Then as if that was too perfect and little calf does the exact same only slightly messier and less practiced.
On our way home we were able to watch the thunderstorm roll in. Spanning over forty mile from end to end the thick rain clouds were buzzing with electricity. We looked on as lightning struck down the coastline and out in the water! With multiple fires starting up, we watched as their intensity matched that of the rain that was now coming down.
