Our Killer Whale Watching in Bremer Canyon was blessed with an orca in an INSTANT! As soon as we edged over the hotspot we had dorsals in sight! It was hard to distinguish who the orcas were, even as we edged toward them. With closer inspection, we uncovered this was in fact a NEW POD!!!!! The bull’s dorsal stood tall and strong, he sure was an impressive sight! He is definitely giving our biggest male El Notcho a run for his money!
Out behind us was Nani and Neo’s pod! Adina and a few other females from the group were whipping in amongst the new pod to say hello. We continued to try and identify some of the animals in the rouge pod. All of which had noticeably large eyepatches.
We weren’t cruising with the pods for long when they started to surge!!!! This is always such an exhilarating moment for the customers and crew! We picked up speed expecting to shadow the orca for a brief moment before they honed in on their prey….we charged alone as if we were part of the pod for over 8 miles!!!!
Wherever you were on the boat you had an incredible view! Orcas surfed and surged with the trailing swell in line with the bow, the middle AND up behind us! “It was as if we were jogging along with a pride of lions in a hunt”, a quote from our intern em! You could genuinely feel the rush and excitement bursting out of the orca…..and our customers!
Out of nowhere, a second male rose from the depths at our starboard bow, his dorsal standing even higher than the other newcomers! It wasn’t long before we had the two mysterious males were surging off both sides of the bow like TWIN TORPEDOS! By now there were orcas coming in from every angle, trailing and surging closely behind the big boys!
What were they headed for?!
After the long pursuit, the anticipation was peaking!!! The orca had finally dived!!! Once the pods had surfaces they split and swam off in opposite directions. You’d NEVER guess what surfaced between the two pods!!!! A small pod of long-finned pilot whales!! Their surface activity was instantly erratic!!
WHAT was going on????!?!?! A pod of orca had already surged back into the weather and off into the distance. Oil slicks, birds and BREACHING were all you could see! All signs of a successful kill. Alongside us was the other pod of orca and just out ahead, the pilot whales crossed the bow. ALL of which were porpoising their entire funny-looking bodies out of the water and they were ANGRY!
We wouldn’t think so, but it definitely crossed our minds…did the orca have a go at a pilot whale and/or a calf? Stranger things have happened out here! The orca all came back together, surfacing in unison with large chunks of flesh clenched in their jaws! We were so lucky to get a good look as they swam right beside us, dropping the meat between each other as they shared it around! WHAT had they killed?!
Once the chaos died down we headed back toward the hotspot, only to find NIBBLES and his crew spread out and cruising home too. Nibbles stayed right off our bow the entire way back, chopping and changing sides, clearly for his own enjoyment! The louder we cheered, the longer he stayed above water, lifting his head higher each time he surfaced! We couldn’t even get rid of him when we tried to head for home. Nibbles large erect dorsal fin cut the surface of our wake for one final goodbye pass! Clearly, it was another EPIC day in Bremer Bay!
