Straight off the bat as our vessel moved over the continental shelf a curious orca darted its way through the swell lines, greeting us with a cheeky close pass, this unidentified orca was giving us a glimpse at what the day would bring!
We couldn’t get out onto the bow fast enough and before we knew it we had orca breaching up ahead!! For many of our passengers it was their first time seeing Orca and what an extraordinary sight it was. The mighty orca then breached one after the other and we soon realised we were surrounded on all sides.
This behaviour changed rapidly as the pod of around 10 or so orca took off, surging in front, to the port side and behind us! WHERE TO LOOK?! Our pod soon turned into a super pod of potentially 50 orcas all surging in the same direction. We knew it was ON! This super pod included some familiar dorsals including Razor, Stumpy and Split Tip.
Interesting to note that there were only a few large bulls around today never venturing too close to the vessel, seems they had their time in the spotlight yesterday.
The super pod continued surging for hours, some in our wake hitching a ride, others up ahead still breaching and doing cart-wheels when suddenly the orca were gone… leaving us way out in the southern ocean, just us and 1000 metres of ocean below us…
Just as we thought the orca had ditched us, there was Split Tip and she was coming in hot! This big beauty was riding our bow and eyeballing us for what felt like eternity and we couldn’t get enough of her! With our hearts racing, eyes wide and full of glee nobody could have imagined what she would do next. As she darted from side to side a few tail slaps and rolls was only the warm up making sure the paparazzi on the boat were ready for her main act. KA-BOOM! Split Tip, being the superstar that she is, breached directly in front of us and body slammed the water literally METRES from the bow sending a titanic wall of water sky high!! She left her gushing fans in the mist of her splash wanting more and boy did she know it! Showing off with a few more tail slaps and close passes just to impress the adoring passengers.
Did we mention all this happened before lunch?
The afternoon was much the same with orca right by our side, Slater and a few juveniles led us back towards home, coming up every minute or so in unison on the bow as if to give us a guided tour of the canyon!
Another magical day out in the Bremer Canyon which as always, leaves us wanting more!
