Orca Surge with Sir Tom today as we met one of our favourite Orca named in honour of an extraordinary man. Captain Sir Tom Moore became a household name and national treasure for the people of England last year by walking one hundred laps of his garden before his 100th birthday. Reaching that milestone at the same time he also raised over 33 million pound for the NHS and lifted the spirts of a nation going through a difficult lockdown. Last year we met this beautiful male Orca and his family pod in early February around the same time as the passing of Captain Sir Tom. The male Orca did not have a name and we knew just the man to name him after, he is now proudly known as Sir Tom. Our first interaction for the day was with a different male Orca and his family though with big boy El Notcho and matriarch Cookie leading the march to the east in foraging mode as the family spread out their Orca net to trap breakfast.
Continuing to swim with us it was lovely to spend some more time with this family pod and see just how much Oreo has grown. It was also a wonderful surprise to be surrounded by two family pods we have not seen since last year with massive male Bigg’s and Sir Tom arriving with the rest of their pod members. It was surge time and this would have to be one of our most treasured behaviours as to be that close to surfing Orca is sensational. Normally in a hunt situation one animal has to not make the end of the interaction which always adds a tinge of sadness to the event. The wonder of Orca surging is the fantastic energy and freedom in their movements, you can see the amount of fun that they are having as they surf the swell! Surging for ages we had Sir Tom bow ride and wake ride underneath our feet as his massive dorsal fin clipped the oceans surface and sent spray flying. The females, calves, juveniles and males also joined in on the surging fun. A fantastic opportunity to complete further ID work on these two families who don’t visit The Patch all that often and how wonderful to see them all doing so well.
