A beautiful autumn morning greeted us as we cruised out to The Patch for another unique and wonderful day as Cheryl and her family pod returned back to the home grounds. Our first sighting was of a decent sized squid which had been enjoyed as breakfast not long after we found it amongst the hungry Shearwaters. A beautiful ruby red with thick, white flesh and all the best parts missing indicated a good meal for a large black and white predator this morning… the Orca were back in town! Cheryl and her family pod stretched out as they meandered to the west in no hurry at all which provided some family time for everyone to enjoy. B-Slice in particular was in a rather mischievous mood as he swam directly towards us belly up to investigate every inch of our hull so it seemed. Always thrilling to be so close to such an impressive male Orca with his towering dorsal fin and substantial girth showing him to be one very healthy male Orca.
Relaxing for a while it would soon be time for the family to regroup and begin heading back up towards The Patch as they spread out their FLOT line and ensure that the Orca net was wide. Travelling in this way enables them to cover good ground efficiently and prevent prey from evading their advances. A very interesting interaction happened later on in the early afternoon as we could observe a large pod of Striped Dolphins a few hundred meters away moving through the area. Suddenly they stopped and we wondered where the Orca were who had gone immediately into stealth mode during the dolphins approach. Orca surfacing close on our port side we looked up to see the dolphins still a few hundred meters away and changing course before disappearing quickly. It appeared they had picked up on the Orca in the area and weren’t going to take any chances by continuing their movement towards them, a smart move for the dolphins. A special tour to spend with our wonderful Pod Members onboard as we dedicate todays Daily Whale to Dean who loved the ocean and all the magnificent creatures who call it their home. The Orca of Bremer Bay now have a cetacean guardian for life in the kingdom of the Orca. Our prayers and condolences to Elizabeth and her family xxx
