Australia’s best Orca Experience can be enjoyed in the waters off Bremer Bay with Whale Watch Western Australia every January through to early April. A familiar summer easterly breeze ruffled the waters surface as we departed today and made our way to The Patch. On our arrival, a fresh oil slick and feeding Orca was observed as they had just captured breakfast and were busy sharing with the family pod. So many Shearwaters, Albatross and Storm Petrels gathered enthusiastically as they followed the Orca carefully, a looming cloud of hungry feathers. It was time to regroup though as the family moved out towards deeper water and it was at this time that Fanscar decided she wanted to start the show with a dozen spectacular breaches!
It was exhilarating to watch as she launched effortlessly through the swell as they began to surge with energy to the west. Surfing the swell is one of their favourite things to do but not always do they combine surfing with breaching just like they did today. A stunningly powerful and beautiful display as they launched into breaches, tail lobs, backwards porpoises and plenty of bow and wake riding along the way. We truely felt part of the pod as the family gathered around us and each took turns to show off their best moves which had us utterly amazed. B-Slice was next level as his enormous size sent white water flying as he surfed right off our stern and alongside us happily, showing off his famous party trick by spiralling along the surface.
It was very funny to watch today as he would approach our stern upside down and then lift upwards showing off his enormous pectoral fins and very cheeky, teethy smile! He then decided he wanted to do his party trick right off our bow before launching into a full body breach, it was phenomenal. It was now youngster Eddie’s turn to show off as he did the most wonderful tail lobs before launching into a powerful full body breach with fluke clear of the water below, it was clear to see he had been taking notes from B-Slice. It was such an exciting and thrilling day with the Orca, to see their arial skillset in such fine form today was very special and not something we have the chance to observe everyday. It takes much energy to launch themselves clear of the ocean below and is also incredibly noisy when much of the time when foraging they try to maintain a quiet profile. Today was a special interaction with this marvellous family pod and we had to thank them for welcoming us into their breachathon party!
