Beaked Whale escapes Orca during a very lucky morning as the stealthy, deep diver was able to evade the Orca who had closed in on its foraging activity. A very beautiful morning enabled great visibility as we scanned out towards the horizon with every little detail clear and precise. Shearwaters, Albatross and Storm Petrels patrolled for any food they could find while schools of fish scattered at the waters surface as we passed by and peered into the deep water below. A silvery flash captured out attention as a small movement became a little more clear with a Beaked Whale surfacing nervously. A further two surfacing’s were completed quickly before a deep dive had the Beaked Whale disappearing into the depths below and we wished him or her well thinking that the Orca would be further away but within a few moments of that last surfacing a commotion moved in on our stern, it was the Orca!
Racing in our wake and very excited to see us, we were in shock to see these Orca so close to this Beaked Whales last known position. A very friendly and warm welcome from the Orca followed as they seemed aware that there was a Beaked Whale nearby and were stealthy. It is very difficult to track an animal who is being as silent as possible and the Orca can struggle to pinpoint the location of the Beaked Whale when they do travel silently, after all these Beaked Whales survival sometimes depends on just how elusive and quiet they can be. Instead of being glum about the difficulty of tracking this tricky Beaked Whale the Orca instead decided to enjoy some social time and came in for some close up interactions and appeared very pleased to be able to spend some time with us socialising today. Eventually it was time to head back up towards The Patch and as they covered ground efficiently we thought back to just how lucky that Beaked Whale was today in its escape from these apex predators. Our afternoon completed with the wonderful company of our Australian Sea Lions and the local Bottlenose Dolphins who raced over to say hello on our return to the Bremer Bay Boat Harbour today.
