Submarine world of the Orca is a truely fascinating place and today we were welcomed into this world by special members of the Bremer Bay Orca population. Upon our arrival in The Patch blows were sighted as a large pod surfaced as one amongst a good sized oil slick indicating a squid had recently been captured. The family pod approached our bow excitedly and we were over the moon to see little Warnie swimming directly towards us and looking in fantastic health! You may remember Warnie the Orca calf from season 2022 who was born without his dorsal fin. The entire family looked happy, healthy and very excited to see us as they all came over for a catchup around the Steep Point with two individuals in particular completely focused on us throughout the entire day.
Youngsters Ferrari and BB continually approached us over and over as they would surf the swell in towards the bow or midships before drifting back towards our stern and just hanging out with Julia, the GoPro and all of our Pod Members onboard. It was an incredibly intimate encounter with young apex predators as their enthusiasm and want to interact with everyone onboard was palpable. It is very special to have the trust and friendship of these Orca and watch them grow and develop everyday as we get to better understand the personality of each individual. Ferrari has always been an extremely curious young Orca who will spend long periods of time away from the family pod to seek out our company and socialise. Eventually he will be called back to help with foraging for a while before the pod returns to relax time and he comes wondering back over our way once again. Today was one of those special days and we enjoyed every moment hanging out with our apex mates in the Southern Ocean creating memories to last a lifetime.
