Australian Orca Tour depart daily from Bremer Bay from January through to early April every year to meet the apex predators of our ocean. It was a moody morning with heavy clouds and big rain which eased as we departed the Bremer Bay Boat Harbour and made our way with anticipation towards the Orca sighting grounds. Moving over the shelf and into The Patch we hadn’t even slowed when Ambrose made the call for blows straight ahead as Lucky and her family pod surfaced as one. It was a beautiful sight and a warm welcome amongst the cool rain as the family approached us for morning greetings with Shamrock racing over excitedly. She covered every angle of the Steep Point as she moved to the bow, stern and midships with a mischievous look in her eye. It is always special to be so close to a wild Orca and on our water level viewing duckboards we can appreciate the size of these individuals. Shamrock is a healthy and confident young Orca who was in a mood for fun today as she continued to return to us repeatedly. Lucky along with her other Pod Members were relaxed and carrying food with them as a few foraging dives resulted in success with further oil slicks appearing.
Amongst the snacking we had continued visits from cheeky Shamrock as the family swam with us beautifully with big males Koomba and Jimmy a noticeable presence. After a wonderful time throughout our morning with them it was set to be an interesting early afternoon as blows and further Orca were approaching on our stern. Curious, we approached and so did big male Jimmy as he mimicked our movements and approached the other males along with a female and her calf. Jimmy had a meet and greet with the boys and after a little while they all moved back over with Lucky and the family. At first we initially thought one of the males was an individual we know as Bullet but on return this evening and completion of catalogue work we can see it is a different male who for now we have nicknamed Crossbow. It was fascinating to observe as these males moved in and began to flirt with females from Lucky’s family pod with plenty of swimming upside down underneath the girls showing off their belly and other things! A great day for ID work and spending some fun time with the Orca as we wished them well for the afternoon ahead. Looking out to the horizon we could see another storm was rolling in but with little wind the rain fell gently on the southern ocean creating a dramatically beautiful sky and warm breeze before clearing for our arrival back at the Bremer Bay Boat Harbour, a perfect day!
