Orca calf cubs and his family pod enjoyed the last day of January with plenty of foraging and some fun social times amongst the family pod. The family is led by matriarch Kidji who was busy leading her troops today as they moved quickly and covered ground. It is always fascinating to observe the FLOT line as the pod stretches out and creates an Orca net wall as they swim forward which makes it very difficult for any prey to evade them. Moving outside of The Patch and working hard the family found something of interest to them as they circled back and slowed their momentum. A few foraging dives followed and on the third surfacing we noticed that the calves became playful and seemed very pleased about something. Swimming towards our bow we could see a tiny morsel of food being carried as it appeared one of the mothers of the calves had been able to capture a small squid and pass on lunch to the youngsters.
Cubs and Cubby zoomed around and had some fun as the energy of the family pod relaxed and they began to settle into the area for some more foraging. Rain clouds moved in and and amongst the dramatic sky we could see the beautiful dorsal fins of the three big boys cruising alongside the family pod. Someone has bitten Chalky on his dorsal fin and it could have been caused by either a social interaction or perhaps dominance from one of the females within the family pod. The bite outline is still fresh and slightly red but will heal fine and these type of scars are a normal part of Orca life as those powerful teeth are well controlled during interaction but still leave their mark. The family settled into their afternoon just as the rain did with the misty conditions providing us with a unique insight for Pod Members onboard to see how The Patch looks in the sunshine and amongst the pitter patter of rain.
