Lucky is back in The Patch and we were over the moon to see her again today as five family pods were observed foraging in the sighting grounds. The winds had eased this morning and we had a great window of opportunity to spend some time with the Orca prior to the winds returning later on in the afternoon. It was an efficient journey out to The Patch and the clock had just ticked over 09:05am when the call went out for Orca just ahead. It wasn’t just one pod but three families travelling together including Cookie, Cooee and a very famous Orca in the population, Lucky. She is a very unique and special Orca as her dorsal fin is missing and certainly stands out amongst her large family pod. It is believed the cause of her missing dorsal fin could have been due to a difficult birth back when she was a calf with other pods members causing unintentional damage when assisting during the birthing process. The other possibility is genetics but with only Lucky and Warnie observed in the entire population currently without dorsal fins genetics is less likely to be the cause. The most important thing is that Lucky is healthy, happy and doing what she does best by helping her family find food and being an important leader in her family pod.
It has not caused her ill health or movement issues as she has learnt to adapt from a young age to living without her dorsal fin and getting around just fine. Moving to the west they covered ground efficiently as they returned back towards an area they enjoy spending most of their time in with visits from this pod to The Patch infrequent. Always a joy spending time with this beautiful family and as the breeze changed it was the perfect time to wish them well as they continued to move westbound. A short distance away Cookie and her family began to swim directly towards us as they came in for a second big greeting today after seeing them earlier on in the morning. It was interesting to watch as they began foraging dives and were just working the depths below us as they would resurface right alongside each time. During three of these foraging dives they returned to the surface with small squid leftovers being gobbled up by the seabirds with small oil slicks appearing. Cookie had managed to find a small patch of squid and was making the most of the opportunity as the family shared the meal together. Sir Tom arrived along with his family pod as they seemed to have noticed the commotion from Cookie and her family as they also began to join in with the foraging. It was fantastic to see them locating a meal, although only small it provides them with much needed energy to bide their time before larger prey arrives in the hunting grounds.
