We didn’t have to spend long at the hotspot today before the orca took us east, very far east! The orcas were spread over a 2-mile area, all surfacing sporadically and for short periods! Amongst the crew were a few similar faces that we haven’t laid eyes on in a while…Razor and blade the young whippersnapper!
Two pods tracked us east for miles past the Hood canyon, all still extremely docile and far spread! This behaviour, until this year, has been minimal. As we progress with the research and our skills develop as a crew we are beginning to pick up on patterns and behaviours that would only be noticed by the trained eye.
By the time the orca turned back west they went deep and wide, venturing into the 2000m depth contours. By now we had 4 pods surrounding us! We were so lucky to encounter the juveniles from Neo’s pod up close and personal! It still amazes us to see how protective Nani (the bull) is with little neo! The pair were never more than 1m off each other throughout the entire day! It was nice to see him give mum a well-deserved break!
We cruised back with the four pods at ~2knots! The pods had finally started to join up into their tighter pod formations! The diving was getting progressively deeper and longer. At this point, our HUNTRESS split-tip appeared out of nowhere and right alongside! Were we in for a KILL???? The orca sped up for a brief moment and so did our excitement! The energy died down as quickly as it started, winding it right back down to almost a standstill! We didn’t even make it back to the hotspot by 3pm!
On our way back we sighted some sperm whales logging and deeply breathing in distance!!! Sadly it wasn’t long until we witnessed their tail ups, diving back to the depths for another prolonged hunt! We wish them the best of luck for their giant squid dinner!
It was another EPIC Orca Australia Adventure in Bremer Bay!
