Killer Whales Western Australia can be found in the waters off Bremer Bay as the southern hemispheres largest aggregation of Killer Whales. A lovely morning with light winds escorted us out to The Patch as the most magnificent Wandering Albatross soared past with wingspan outstretched. Hazy blows were spotted just ahead and we smiled to see Alki and her family pod moving in towards us calmly. Relaxed and in cruise control the family welcomed us into their FLOT line as they were outstretched out over one hundred and fifty metres. A FLOT line or forward line of troops is often observed when Orca are in travel mode with distance in-between each pod member as they traverse large distances. A perfect opportunity for Grace to launch her drone and complete some data collection on the body fat condition of this particular family pod.
Grace was filming little Grace today who was born one year ago and it was amazing to see her size comparison compared to older pod member Nani who is the families oldest male member. Although small, little Grace is full of energy and appears to be thriving which is a fantastic sign as the first twelve months of life for a baby Orca are generally some of the hardest. A large Hammerhead Shark cruised past as a Sunfish feasted on Blue Bottles while the Orca continued in search mode for their next meal. Wishing them well we journeyed over to our second pod and without a huge surprise we could see that Queen and her family had a large oil slick indicating that they had been successful in finding a meal. Most likely a decent sized squid it is always amazing to see just how consistence Queen and her family are in finding food. Flapper, Stormy, Noosa and Wonks came over to greet us as they began to move back up towards the head of the slick. It was a wonderful day spending time with some of the most well known and loved members of the Bremer Bay Killer Whale population.
