We arrived in the Bremer Canyon to a sea of seabirds as they focused their attention on a particular section of the canyon and it wasn’t long before the black dorsals of Orca broke the surface. We could see the excitement from both Orca and birds as small strips of white were flying past us in the beaks of Flesh Footed Shearwater and enormous Albatross… the Orca were feeding! Looking carefully we could determine that the food source was most likely squid as a young calf surfaced close by with a small amount trailing from her mouth, it looked like the Orca were enjoying a big Saturday morning breakfast.
The pod separated after a big feed with the young calves and teenagers staying with the leftover squid while the adults began their next hunt. The calves enjoyed playing just off our bow for almost two hours as they shared food and socialised. The call must have been sent out by the adults as the calves stopped their play and buzzed past us at full speed, the march was on again and we were going with them! During the march down the Bremer Canyon we had an enormous male surface only two meters away and he was in a very boisterous mood with a few breaches, tail slaps and even a “dorsal” slap where he used his massive dorsal to hit the waters surface in a half barrel roll. The excitement levels were high amongst the pod as they raced under and around our vessel during their journey and just before we left them to continue a pod of over 50+ Pilot Whales arrived on the scene, the Bremer Canyon certainly is a perfect place to see Orca feeding and the entourage of seabirds and wildlife that follows them!
6 thoughts on “Feeding Killer Whales (Orca) in the Bremer Canyon”
What a fantastic day we had, awesome tour and couldn’t have asked for a more professional tour provider.
I went all the way to Alaska and cruised to Vancouver to see Killer Whales and was disappointed. If this is on your bucket list then this is the tour for you!
Thank you Whale Watch Western Australia.
Thank you very much Paul for your kind words and we are so pleased to hear that you had a wonderful time and met the Orca of Western Australia!
We had the most enjoyable day ever beginning with the staff who looked after us so well all day long, especially Leanne who went above and beyond. Seeing the orcas was a dream come true, something I thought I would never experience. All the bird activity was great to see to, especially the albertross who glided across the ocean with such grace for such a large bird. We were also lucky enough to see a pod of pilot whales just as we were about to head home. So all in all we had a fantastic day, would highly recommend spending the day with this fantastic family run business.
Thankyou Tracey, we are very pleased and motivated by your types of comments, it is always a pleasure to her from our guests. I will let Mum know of your kind words and I agree she certainly does look after our guests, she has been doing it for me for 24 years 😉
thank you for a great day and the photos. A wonderful experience and just loved the “sloppy sea” – great vessel and professional staff to cope with it all……well done – I will recommend to whoever loves the ocean.
Thanks Margo, There was a good analogy the other day that the sea was like the bottom of an egg carton, quite appropriate for the southern ocean at times.