Today we met an Orca ( Killer Whale ) attack survivor and his scars told us a bit about his incredible survival story. Looking carefully at the right tip of his fluke you can easily notice how it has been worn down by the teeth of the Orca and distinctive rake marks have been left behind. Again on his dorsal fin we notice the same rake marks where the Orca ( Killer Whales ) have tried to hold onto this young Humpback and incredibly he fought his way free and is now a healthy and happy sub adult. Approaching our vessel with great curiosity he surfaced right behind us and again to our port side as he came in incredibly close to investigate. It always amazes us to see the resilience of these young Humpback Whales and even after a close call in his earlier years it did not stop this young whale from approaching us to say hello with confidence, what a fantastic personality!
Two mother and calf pods in the distance captured our attention as Humpback Whales leapt skywards as one of the pods came too close towards the other. The dominant female began to breach with her calf and male escort quickly following her lead. The younger female who was travelling with a younger calf also responded with some breaching of their own but respectfully left the area to the more mature adults. We joined up with this young mum and her beautifully light grey calf as we watched mum lead her calf into a quite area away from the others before continuing to feed her calf and rest. Our final pod for the morning was another young survivor, this time it was an unfortunate interaction with propellors which had left behind a small but noticeable propeller strike scarring just below the left dorsal. Again, this young whale did not seem to hold a nervousness around vessels retained from this previous propeller encounter, in fact she responded towards us with friendly pectoral fin slapping showing off her beautiful white flashy pecs. These two survivors have a long life ahead of them!
