What a fantastic way to wrap up the orca action for the month of January!
Our passengers were greeted by El Notcho’s pod this morning almost as soon as crew could get out the words “We’ve just arrived in the hotspot”.
Orca seemed to be busy searching the depths for their next meal, taking no notice of us as their blows could be seen almost like clockwork, spending a significant amount of time under the white capped waves and out of our sight.
As our lunch went down a treat we could not help but get the feeling the orcas were becoming agitated and then before our eyes they took off! Surging left, right and in front of the bow, their energy levels pulsed and so did our excitement! Were they about to have a feed!? What was it that they were hunting?!
With hearts racing, orca were surging parallel to the starboard side of our vessel, we were all holding our breath as our passengers had their first glimpse at just how powerful and effortless they seemed as they sliced through the swell. The orca then pulled up, halting in place as we eagerly watched on, hoping this burst of energy brought them a meal. Their lunch appeared to have escaped them and we can only imagine what creature had just evaded the Bremer Canyon apex predators!
Mixed emotions filled the vessel as we had just witnessed Kidji, Holey and the rest of their pod attempt a hunt! Unlucky this time but we were hopeful they wouldn’t be going hungry today.
With orca all around, we caught the attention of two curious sub-adult females and a calf. They bolted towards us and began investigating our vessel wanting to know who was in their territory and what we were up to! Three more close passes by this pod resulted in squeals and many elated comments from passengers such as “IT LOOKED RIGHT AT ME!”
These curious creatures gave us the perfect send off as we cruised back home, taking a slight detour to see what the Australian Sea Lions were up to on Glasse Island.
