BREACH OUT!!

WHAT A DAY!!!!!! It was only 10 minutes after dropping off the continental shelf of Australia when we spotted our first pod! Nibbles and his pod of 15 other animals, including a young neonate (calf), were cruising just SW of the hotspot. It wasn’t long before the pod encroached on the vessel, at this moment not realising it was only the BEGINNING! MORE dorsal fins started to break the surface on our port side, more at our stern AND even MORE at our bow!!!! It was definitely a day of socialising , the bulls started to kick off, breaching, tail slapping and rollie pollies,  which was soon followed by the juveniles attempting to keep up! White glows of the ventral sides came toward the boat at speed, the cheers making the orca change course, coming back for more and more! As the bulls charged toward the stern they dived under the hull, customers leaning over the side attempting to get the first glance of where the orca would appear! Out of nowhere the bull broke the surface 20m off the bow, launching his 8 tonne body RIGHT OUT of the water!!!! By now the atmosphere on the vessel was high, with grins from ear to ear! This set off a chain reaction among the pods, by now over 40 orca were scattered across the deep blue surface! Breaches were soon followed by MORE peduncle (tail) slaps! Even the orcas pecs slapping against the surface made for an incredible sound! A passing yacht was right amidst the action! The stretch of water between us and the sail boat was riddled with energetic orca with even more beyond both vessels! Your eyes couldn’t spend long scanning the distance as white flashes right below you would steal your attention in an instant!! This is when we also saw a glimpse of a shark as his fin just broke the surface before darting off into the distance once another orca breached nearby! Orca spent most of the day within close proximity of the boat, either alongside or beneath us! Nibbles and another LARGE unknown bull spent most of the day side by side which is quite peculiar!  In turn, our customers spent the majority of their day looking down in order to catch the two fondling males as they dwindled back and forth from the bow to the stern! As IF the day could get any better, we spotted 30+ long-finned pilot whales moving in on the orca! The females were accompanied by TINY little grey calves that attempted to porpoise alongside their mothers past the vessel! From drone footage, underwater shots AND slow-motion videos we got it ALL! Today would have to be the highlight of the season for myself and a lot of the crew! We had that many close passes from the orca that by the end of the day we had customers capturing shots that even some of our photographers didn’t have the opportunity to get over their entire week volunteering with us! Sometimes its just the luck of the draw! The sun beamed down on us all day, providing the perfect seascape for our orca shots! WEEEHOOOOOO!! Another AWESOME day in Bremer Bay!