21.04.21
Today’s orca expedition felt like two completely separate days!
An almost glass-off morning full of sunshine and feeding animals turned to grey skies and grey water not long after lunch.
Our commute to the hotspot was interrupted by a BLUE WHALE! This mighty giant was travelling along with two other friends not too far behind. We managed to snap a couple identification photos, all in the name of science The beast continued on at pace so we continued on our path!
We were greeted with feeding pilots and a sperm whale to keep our searching momentum going. However at midday a front rolled through with light showers for the most part of a few hours! The eerie feeling was overwhelming especially when a larger cargo ship was barely visible off in the distant motoring past.
Through the mist, a male orca dorsal was spotted but it disappeared sub-surface before any other trace was left! The conditions were now on the difficult end of the spectrum to find animals, although we love a challenge!
Another spermie appeared suddenly in front of us! A large smelly oil slick rose to surface moments after him suggesting he was mid-feed. Rebreathing and resting, while his body digested its squid lunch and replenished oxygen stores. A long back arch and tail up, but this descent was out of the ordinary. This spermy was “offloading” a bit of weight as a big green ploom of digested squid was defecated and left behind at the surface.
It was a day for the birders with 10 species in total sighted:
Shy Albatross
Black Brow Albatross
Yellow nose Albatross
Flesh-Footed Shearwater
Great winged Petrel (a winter visitor)
Brown Skua
Huttons Shearwater
Little Shearwater
Soft Plumaged Petrel (winter visitor)
and the cherry on top!!
Light Mantled Sooty Albatross
