21.03.2021
Incoming Submarine! A sub-adult female came from no where today and found us before we found her! She darted towards our bow under the water from 12 o’clock and eye-balled us before heading off to the North!
We followed in hopes that she would show us to the rest of the pod. Before we knew it we were with another three! They were busy scanning the depths with loonnnng down times.
A giant devilray made an unexpected appearance in the hotspot today! This filter feeding pelagic ray circled with its feeding apparatus, cephalic fins, unravelled! It moved effortlessly through the southern ocean which has been warmer than usual over the past week. Devilrays are known to be in tropical waters although they can venture to areas with water as low as 20 degrees celsius. They are a known orca food in other parts of the world however the Bremer Bay orca weren’t interested! We have only sighted these a couple of times over the history of expeditions here at Bremer but with warming waters it may become a more frequent sighting.
We spent the afternoon with a different pod and were thrilled to see a new EYE PATCH! This distinctive eye patch is one we do not recognise and are stoked to be able to add her to the Project Orca Catalogue. They were friendly with us coming in for closer inspections between hunting small fish. With incoming rough weather tomorrow, the orca no doubt can feel the change and appeared slow and measured.
