Hundreds of loosely packed pilot whales were what first caught our eye this morning! The pilots pulsed past with their calves right near the bow for all our customers to enjoy! The pods had barely ventured ahead of the vessel when we noticed our favourite kind of blows, the ORCA blows, which were still well out in front! The pilot whales proved they were up to their usual antics as soon as we started to describe the complexity of the relationship between these angry little sausages and the apex predators! The pilot whales began to surge the orca out of the area with sheer annoyance and high numbers, which is likely a protective mechanism used against the KILLER whales. Today’s observed behaviour is only one of the dynamic natural acts we have sighted this season between the orca and their smaller, less physically equipped yet highly intelligent counterparts. Hence the interactions between these two species require further observation to develop and understand their relationship, and we can’t WAIT to see what unfolds over the rest of the season AND next year!
The first pod that we sighted today consisted of our sprouting sub-adult male WA084 and his pod! We were also greeted by one of our regular pods for this season, inclusive of Nibbles and the favourites Razor and her new TINY calf! The adorable youngster came on the inside of the new mother and our vessel which is a promising sign that reiterates how comfortable the orca are with us from years of persistence and care when interacting with the species!
As we were venturing toward home, we sighted two extremely large blows behind the boat, soon spotting orca fins within close proximity! We quickly spun the boat around toward the action! As we approached more and more orca rose, Urkel making a close appearance as his large dorsal fin sliced through the surface like butter! By now there were orca everywhere cruising in no particular direction or speed, seeming like something was bound to unfold!!! There were no more signs of the two supposed blue whales, suggesting the pair dived to the depths, avoiding what could’ve been a life-threatening confrontation!
