Wild Orca Southern Ocean hunt unfolded today as amongst the rawness of this coastline and the epic power and precision of the Orca was on full display. Arriving in The patch the distinctive surfacing of Lucky appeared along with her family pod as they all moved as one with a similar foraging pattern from yesterday. The morning was all about relax time though as they stayed close and surfaced alongside us while resting with young male Daniher having some fun by surfing his way towards us each time the family came up to reoxygenate. A while later it was back to forage mode as they worked hard east to west and closed in the envelope around their prey. Just like yesterday it appeared the unfortunate prey was squid and after many passes over the same area the family suddenly began to surge, the hunt was on! White water was flying as they accelerated and soon we found ourselves surfing with the Orca as momentum headed west as the prey tried to evade. A second family pod was also involved in the surge as Hermes and family appeared and joined with the momentum to the west. Slowing slightly and turning sharply the family now began to regroup before diving deeply and all was quiet for a few minutes.
Resurfacing together a slick started to form as it was clear the prey had been captured and appeared to be squid, possibly giant due to the slick size and the scent, Beaked Whale have a distinct heavy musky animal scent and a far greater slick spread. Feeding began as the Shearwaters and Albatross plummeted into the Southern Ocean to secure their scrap but dinnertime was about to be interrupted, the Pilot Whales were charging in! A rather impressive way to crash the party as they completely interrupted feeding time as the Orca grabbed the remaining food and scrambled in different directions. It appeared a small piece had been strategically left behind as the birds fought over it before the surging Pilot Whales arrived and took it with them as they moved in on the scene. Big male Hercules made a great distraction as he managed to get the Pilot Whales chasing him as the rest of the family snuck away with their meal a good distance before resuming feeding again as the seabirds went crazy. Just when we thought all the action for the day had completed it was back on again as the Orca with full bellies were ready to surge back to The Patch and all around we had porpoising Orca. Travelling straight into the swell was not going to slow them down as they kept their momentum full pelt which resulted in them bursting out the other side of the swell with bodies airborne. It was an exhilarating way to complete our wild Orca Southern Ocean hunt and on days like today we can fully appreciate the extraordinary strength, agility and prowess of our oceans apex predators.
