Bremer Canyon Orca on a mesmerisingly beautiful day out on the water as sleek dorsal fins of apex predators cut through the silky southern ocean. A picture perfect morning greeted us as we departed the boat harbour and made our way out towards the sighting grounds. The Patch was peaceful and energy levels extremely low amongst the seabirds as the odd individual panned patiently in search of a small morsel of food. It was time for us to also begin our search mode as we worked a grid search pattern tracing over the pathways family pods have been working over the last few weeks. Sunfish were busy foraging on Blue Bottles as Skipjack Tuna leapt clear of the ocean below and there was calm amongst the search grounds. Pushing back out towards the east the seabird activity increased slightly compared to the activity in the west and we pushed onwards in search of those distinctive dorsal fins of the Orca. Surfacing on our starboard side water rippled and two slinky dorsal fins surfaced in unison. A mother and her calf were travelling together and moving out into deeper water, which family had they come from?
Watching carefully the next surfacing came a short time later and we could see little Opal, it was Queens family who were hanging out in this part of the feeding grounds. A couple more surfacing’s from mother and calf were slinky and they were certainly wanting to keep a low profile as they moved out of the area calmly. It was very interesting to see today Alki and her family who are one of the many pods who often associate with Queen. The distance between the two families was a fair way but most importantly Alki and her pod had been successful in finding a meal. Opal and the rest of her family remained outside of the feeding group as Alki shared the meal up amongst her family as little Grace seemed very happy to be enjoying her lunch. Young male Nani has always been a dotting pod member on Grace and watched over her before taking his share of the meal and moving off to let Grace feed with visiting calf Samurai. The two youngsters had a wonderful time feasting as the family slowly moved back towards the west and we enjoyed tracking with them on a most beautiful afternoon.
