Killer Whale Watch today as we enjoyed the company of curious, playful Orca sharing a fresh meal of squid while socialising in the sunshine. Arriving in The Patch it was Cookie and her family pod who were foraging through the heart of the feeding grounds as they quietly looked for breakfast. It is wonderful to see Oreo looking so big as mother and matriarch of the family Cookie led the way as her family carefully followed. Grace was able to complete some body condition data collection with this pod in the calm winds to see how their health is looking. El Notcho is looking as handsome as ever with the more reserved of the males in this population calmly swimming alongside us for a while. The family is getting more mature as Oreo continues to grow and each of the members of this family need to work hard, being the smallest family pod currently int the catalogue they all have an important role to play.
Joining up with Queen, Noosa and their family we were excited to see that they were carrying with them a fresh meal which looked to be squid. Three Stripes was playing with Stevie and little Samurai who would swim up to her as she went belly up each time. Jet black pectorals and a glowing white belly she wiggled just off our bow almost tempting us to come and get the squid if we dared! Encouraging the calves to work for their meal they would have to change the angle of their approach to get a small morsel of food as Three Striped hung upside down. Playtime continued as the calves surged after each other and enjoyed the beautiful weather conditions which made for easy travelling as the family covered ground. A Killer Whale Watch day that also enjoyed the company of porpoising Common aka Spectacular Dolphins racing in towards us.
