Orca in The Patch on a wonderful day with Cheryl and her family pod as they spent their morning socialising with us before continuing with foraging throughout the rest of the day. The rain from yesterday had cleared and conditions were very pleasant on the way out to The Patch as the Shearwaters glided past in search of breakfast. Scanning through the sighting grounds and observing for signs of activity in the area we could feel that the Orca were close. Watching carefully it was with great excitement we heard the call from our Marine Scientist Josh that he had Orca in The Patch and moving our way! Surfacing peacefully together, we could see that Cheryl and B-Slice were approaching the rest of the family pod and soon we had everyone in the family together.
The calves were in a very playful mood as they chased after each other excitedly, little Millie is growing in confidence everyday and loves nothing more than racing around with Eddie. Razor and Mia were both happy to see us as they approached and rolled over onto their back, showing off the big white belly of these cheeky Orca. Playtime complete and straight into foraging which proved successful for them as a small amount of squid was being carried. Shearwaters frantically dove on the surface as they tried to capture little leftover scraps before they sunk to the depths below. A large tanker moved past the sighting grounds a little further away from the normal path they tend to travel up on the shelf. It didn’t bother the Orca too much as they continued on with their day, but we know they were fully aware of this large ship moving past. This isolated stretch of coastline has relatively minimal vessel traffic compared to other locations in the world which will assist in protecting the environment these Orca call home and also most importantly, their fridge!
