Wild west Killer Whales were stunning today as we witnessed extraordinary surface language and social displays amongst the Orca who welcomed us into the fun. A steady easterly breeze ruffled the waters surface as we made our way out to the sighting grounds and it was expected to ease throughout the day. Blows were observed straight away after arriving in The Patch as big boy Biggs surged to the east along with pod members. Travelling with them they covered ground efficiently and soon began to converge together and at that moment the fun began as tail slapping, breaching, pec slapping and tail lobbing erupted all around us and with much excitement. Luna, Charlie and Biggs put on an incredible display as they breached so close to us we could feel the rumble of their bodies crashing back down onto the southern oceans surface. Swirl launched into a spectacular pancake breach as she lifted her entire body airborne before plummeting back down and landing flat as a pancake which created a mountain of white water. The surface language continued for a while before they converged together and began to mingle as Cooee, Echo and Swirl socialised with Biggs and his family pod.
It was time for them to continue on with their day as breaching, tail slapping and lobbing continued as the family began to move to the west. Winds had abated as predicated making for great travel conditions as they surged to the west and surfed the swell. It was such a fun day with the wild west Killer Whales as they displayed their playful side and were in good spirits to spend four hours playing, socialising and communicating via spectacular surface language. One of the females we will be naming soon came over to check out the GoPro and began to vocalise while opening her mouth wide and showing off those pearly whites. It was amazing to see the impressive and fierce jaw of our oceans apex predator with all teeth flashing away and looking in perfect condition. Biggs had been breaching repeatedly which caused a small wound on his pectoral with all that heavy landing as a small amount of blood could be noticed flying up with the white water. The family pod welcomed us into the activity as they would approach the Steep Point within only meters before rolling over for cheeky inverted tail slapping or a spectacular breach.
The fun continued all the way to the west as the family pod moved together and to see them with so much energy is a great reflection of how they are all feeling. Wildlife never has any guarantees of when their next meal will be so conserving energy is of most importance. A healthy population of wild Orca will often reflect their good health by happily using important energy reserves for socialising and play instead of foraging. Today the family travelled over 25 mile in total all while surging, breaching, tail lobbing and playing along the way which makes us completely in awe of their strength and fitness. Today was a remarkable day with the wild west Killer Whales and there is nothing better than watching wild Killer Whales in their home having the time of their lives.
