The morning started with another NEAR miss! Oil slicks were scattered across the hotspot. The now docile orca were popping up intermittently and only for a quick glance. Noosa and her clan made one fowl swoop toward the vessel, only to dive deep and disappear on us! The animals sure were playing hard to get this morning! Some of us sighted a dorsal in the distance for a fleeting moment, a VERY distinct dorsal fin…SPLIT TIP?! With scanned and scanned but with no other sightings we couldn’t be certain. There were orca around, none however seemed to have any direction, all just cruising around aimlessly! The behaviour across the canyon was odd to say the least!
We all got excited when Urkels’ pod grouped a distinct echelon formation! Deep, long dives, followed by discrete footprints meant one thing, they were on the HUNT! Small oil slicks began to disperse, squid or fish perhaps?? With no remnants it was hard to discern what the orca were successfully snacking on!
BOY oh BOY was the afternoon a complete contrast to the morning!
We made a beeline back toward the hotspot for one last shot at the action. One word, CARNAGE! Split tip, our queen was BACK and she was a force to be reckoned with! We made it just in time to witness the takedown. Split tip and Noosas’ pods were working closely together today! The whole clan was there, Flapper, Billie, Nani, Aliki, Nikki, Maddison, little machi and more! Split tip single-handedly took town the prey, again missing the hit by moments as we only saw her rise back up with large pieces of mangled meat! Split tip proceeded to distribute the carcass around to everyone! Oil and blood turned the sea a dark green, birds were swooping for any little piece of flesh! The organic smell of mammal was all we could smell as the wind howled toward us. The feeding frenzy went on for 30 minutes as we watched in awe as 20+ orca darted across the bow. We were RIGHT amongst the action! When we thought it had all ended we sighted El Notchos’ pod headed back toward the hotspot. It was if though we convoyed together, the vessel a part of the pod as they surged and played on either side of the vessel! What a beautiful end to another GREAT day for Bremer Bay Whale Watching Adventure!
