Australian Made Orca 2023 was celebrated with Aussie music, sausage sizzle, lamingtons, hungry Sunfish and our Australian Made Orca on a most beautiful summers day. Cruising out to the sighting grounds we enjoyed lovely conditions for Australia Day 2023 and shortly after arriving in The Patch a distinctive dorsal fin appeared, El Notcho had arrived. After a busy surge yesterday Cookie and her family pod had returned back to The Patch and resumed foraging as they spread out and moved towards the shelf. Eventually we noticed Cookie call everyone back in and they moved together as the foraging tactics changed again. A tricky day to find food as the family searched consistently throughout this pocket of the feeding grounds in hopes of finding lunch.
Donna had been busy organising a delicious sausage sizzle for our Pod Members onboard to enjoy and as we tucked in to our lunch we noticed a small slick starting to form around El Notcho’s next surfacing. The slick increased again as the girls surfaced and we smiled to see that they had finally been successful in securing a squid lunch for the family pod. Orca and humans were not the only ones enjoying some tucker as over a dozen Sunfish were sighted today feasting on passing Blue Bottles. Our final interaction was to be with Cheryl and her family pod as they moved into The Patch and came straight over to us for any afternoon greeting. B-Slice has grown so much and as he surfaced right on our stern it was easy to hear the power in his exhale as the pod surrounded us in a wonderful greeting after a little over a week since our last interaction. A perfect way to celebrate Australia Day on the journey home with champagne, beer and lamingtons as the sunshine lit up the sky on a most beautiful day in Australia.
