20.03.2021
What started as an overcast morning turned into an afternoon treat! Split Tip was the first orca sighted today under the cloud covered sky but she didn’t stay long. She appeared busy so we took the hint we weren’t welcome and moved on.
To our delight, 9 orca blows belonged to Nibbles and Digby’s pod. These sociable and full of character orcas have been making us laugh over the past few expeditions and we were excited to see what they would get up to today. If you want to see what we mean just take a look at yesterdays blog and photos…!
Today they were up to the usual antics. Little Dundette is looking incredibly healthy and full of energy for a couple months of age as her orange tinge fades very quickly! This colouration on the skin dissapears to white as the layer of blubber gets thicker. We are so humbled to be able to not only witness these orca but record their behaviours too. We managed to capture Little Dundette and mum repeat the same behaviour three times in sequence. The cow and calf pair rolled onto their backs, full white belly on show, moved under our vessel from port to starboard! Each time we know we were capturing something special but weren’t certain until observing the footage afterwards! This time we were able to capture little dundette nudging and pushing at mums mammory glands trying to secrete milk!
I personally have never witnessed such intimate behaviour and feel very privileged that the orca were comfortable enough with us to show the mother and calves special bond. Please see the video from Blair @ SharkyAerials.
Not only did we have little Dundette putting on a show but her older sibling couldn’t help but nudge the underwater camera! The ever-growing male Digby escorted the pod in for a closer look and on arrival to our stern the youngster appeared to bump and flash its pearly whites at the camera!!! WOW! Just speechless.
Naturaliste Charters would like to thank everybody for has come onboard in the past, those who see us through social media and those who continue to support us throughout the season! We love you all and we love sharing our orca interactions with you too! We hope to continue bringing you great orca content throughout the next month.
