Today was far from textbook. As we dropped over the shelf into the hotspot there was no call for Orca…. We searched, and searched and searched and then searched some more and to no avail did we find Orca… Some days it is not straight forward finding the Orcas and today was a real test of endurance and the crew’s experience.
Our passengers today are the real MVP’s being so patient with us and staying positive while we scanned the big blue for signs of wildlife. A sunfish momentarily took our attention away from the increasing feeling that today may be a no orca day.
It was the experience of our crew that saved the day with our deckhand Billy, who has five Killer Whale Bremer Canyon seasons under his belt, spotting blows from literal miles away.
Within a few minutes it was a confirmed sighting with more blows and more eyes spotting them and that meant we were ON!
The blows turned out to be coming from Urkel, Noosa and Split Tip’s pods! They were dispersed over a few hundred metres but after a half hour came together to hunt! We travelled west with the bulls and adult females leading the pod and the youngsters following slowly behind, almost “dragging their feet”.
The hours of searching were forgiven after only ten minutes with the Orca as they eyeballed us from below and “mugged” us from either side of the vessel. They appeared to be practicing their hunting behaviour by pushing and shoving each other through the surface swell making for an entertaining few hours! Gushing stoked passengers departed today with big smiles and amazing memories of the unpredictable Bremer Killer Whales.
Shout out to George who spotted 13 different species of birds on the expedition and was stoked to add a few new ones to his growing species list!
