Today we met a brand new member of the Bremer Bay Orca population and are proud to introduce new Orca calf Cometti, named in honour of legendary commentator Dennis Cometti and this little calf is absolutely centimetre perfect! The new calf belongs to Vera’s family pod who we have not observed in a long time and we were thrilled to see them all together today. It was a very interesting morning as we joined with Vera and the family who were clearly stalking prey as a short time later a surfacing 200 meters ahead appeared but it was not Orca… they were Beaked Whales! Four individuals surfaced and we all held our breath, what would happen next as the Orca surfaced and were heading straight towards their location.
It was an incredible opportunity to see both species within range of each other and watch how the interaction would unfold as both the Orca and Beaked Whales seemed very aware of their proximity towards each other. Resurfacing a further two times, the Beaked Whales did a great job in oxygenating their blood efficiently before we watched them accelerate downwards and disappear out of sight. Following in their fluke prints the Orca moved towards the last observed area and dived deeply on that location, we watched closely to see if the Orca would catchup to the Beaked Whales or if they had used that slight distance to get a head start on the Orca.
The stealthy focus continued but eventually it appeared the Beaked Whales had managed to push away from the Orca and Vera collected her family and came over to say hello instead. It was at this time that we observed a new family member travelling and were thrilled to meet this gorgeous Orca calf. The youngster was healthy and very excited to meet us, it was a fantastic recommendation from one of our Pod Members onboard that this calf should be named in honour of the great Dennis Cometti who passed away yesterday. A true Australian legend, Dennis Cometti was known for his remarkable wit and the voice of Australian sport for decades.
His humour has brought much joy to so many over decades and his commentary excellence will never be forgotten. We are very grateful to have met this new Bremer Bay Orca calf today and proud to name this beautiful little Orca in honour of Cometti. In true Dennis style, this little Orca certainly did sneak up on us like a librarian today in his first approach and we cannot wait to watch this young Orca grow in the years ahead. Another highlight today was our very first Humpback Whale sighting for 2026, although early these first migrators are a great reflection of the season change and now has us very excited for the Humpback Whale season later in the year.
