Orca 2026 ten days left! It is hard to believe we are in the final ten days of the Bremer Bay Orca Season for this year. It was another beautiful day as we arrived in The Patch and began our search with many Shearwaters and Albatross keeping busy scanning the area. Our first sighting was of a very large chunk of what appeared to be the remains of Giant Squid floating on the surface and it was surrounded by hungry seabirds. Pecking and pulling away they managed to get a decent meal from the remains and it was an exciting discovery, someone had been hunting in the area. Our next observation was a wonderful one, Pilot Whales! Mums, bubs and a few big males were cruising and very relaxed providing a wonderful interaction with them all. A species not easy to spot in Australian waters as you need to be a long way offshore, every interaction is much enjoyed with these charismatic and friendly Pilot Whales.
Our next sighting was likely the culprits of the squid kill observed earlier, it was Queen and Alki on the march back towards The Patch. Sweeping together like a giant Orca net, they covered miles effortlessly with their structured and disciplined FLOT line formation. Prince, Nani, Slater and Samurai were enjoying some social fun along the way as they chased after each other with belly up swims as the boys usually do for showing off. The family had covered much ground and as we moved back into The Patch they began to forage and look to see if any prey had moved in on the area while they had been away. Another highlight today was the most beautiful and funny Fur Seal who came barreling over to say g’day after we had spent some time with the Australian Sea Lions at Glasse Island. The pilchard fishing has been going well of late and many hundreds of birds, seals and dolphins have been making the most of the plentiful bounty.
