Today began in the hotspot with only fleeting glimpses of Orca blows and dorsal fins! For many of our passengers it was their first time ever seeing wild orca. They buckled in because we were about to be taken on a whirlwind journey!
With one pod of orca spending a large amount of time scouring the depths we waited in anticipation for them to begin hunting! They had other agendas though. A tail throw from an adult female started off a chain reaction of surface activity!! A DOUBLE BREACH soon followed from a pod nearby!
It’s hard to describe the feeling of expectation and excitement and then bewilderment when orca are being sighted once to the left, once to the right, in front and then behind!
With a juvenile charging through the swell and doing handstands a choccy alby (Brown Wandering Albatross) soared above!
The excitable orca took us further and further south west! They enticed us closer by breaching only a hundred metres off our bow!
Breach after breach after breach these orca were not letting up! On first assessment it appeared the orca were celebrating, maybe a successful catch…? After the first hour of this behaviour we guessed this was not the case as there was no sign of prey.
Two bulls were side by side surfing the swell, both of which we appear to be unfamiliar with! We will diagnose it further but it is pretty exciting to think that after six seasons out here in the canyon we are still stumbling upon new orca!
Every minute we spent following orca West meant another minute of punching back into the swell to get home! It was all worth it as our passengers were rocked to sleep homebound and dreamt about their epic orca-filled day.
