Our Big Boy Blackberry was back as this notorious and enormous male Orca made his presence known in The Patch before it was time to surge eastbound. Rarely do we get the opportunity to spend time with Blackberry and his family as they often live, travel and hunt well outside The Patch but this morning they were doing a bit of investigation as we arrived to the family searching for food. During previous encounters with this pod we have seen in the past another male (El Notcho) and his family pod chase Blackberry out of The Patch which is very interesting considering that the majority of the families who gather in The Patch get on very well, but there is something about the notorious Blackberry which causes a stir amongst some others in the population.
Today it was surge time as the family accelerated to the east and we were in for one very long swim, it was over thirty kilometres worth of surfing fun with the Orca! Watching them surf their way to the east was very special as they launched effortlessly and covered ground quickly. Blackberry, Elvis, Cortez and the girls moved with ease and it was clear to see they were returning back to familiar ground and with some urgency. Orca can travel up to 300 kilometres a day if needed and throughout our time with them it was very clear to see how easily that could be achieved. The whole south coast is a very important foraging ground for many Orca who call these waters home and today was a great example of how The Patch isn’t the only preferred hunting ground for some of these family pods.
Blackberry is such a special boy, absolutely huge and when moving at this speed his power is easy to see. Watching him mature over the years, he amazes us with just how big he has become with the height of his towering dorsal fin now creating the sprinkler effect during most surfacing’s especially when a surge is underway. It was such a long surge to the east it had us all very impressed with how much ground was covered by the family pod. Travelling with them we were excited for the opportunity to explore ground we haven’t visited in a couple of seasons and spend some time with this special pod who we don’t get to see all that often throughout the season due to their expansive travel range as we were witness to today.
