Hunting with the Killer Whales (Orca) of Bremer Bay

Our journey to the Bremer Canyon was a beautiful one and our day began with the opportunity to observe the Bremer Fish Processor working hard and collecting 6 ton of fresh pilchards, the Flesh Footed Shearwater were certainly pleased with their morning breakfast! A pod of 25+ Common Dolphins raced towards our bow and showed off their amazing agility with twists and turns only centimetres away from our bow and we were very excited to see if we would be meeting their much larger cousins later on in the day. Then there it was, misty blows straight ahead and two of the largest males we have seen so far this season surfaced in all their glory.

They were very relaxed to begin with and cruised through the gentle rain but once the clouds had cleared they changed their energy in a heartbeat and the pod of six Orca were charging forwards, travelling at over 20 kilometres per hour and one of the males decided we were going to go hunting with him! Porpoising alongside us for the entire journey this impressive male was only meters away and every time he surfaced we held our breathe, Cortez was one of the most magnificent examples of a wild male Orca you could meet. Further ahead we could see over 100 seabirds and more Orca with a distinctive oil slick on the surface of the ocean which certainly looked to have been a successful kill in the area, Long Finned Pilot Whales raced towards the area but changed course suddenly to leave the remaining Orca feeding on a truly remarkable day out in the Bremer Canyon.

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