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Published: March 20th 2023
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We were at the jetty right on time, having sussed out where it was the day before. After the mandatory safety briefing we headed out to sea! We took this opportunity to nap for there wasn't much to see but blue, blue ocean! Starting at the place they call the hotspot we spotted blows mere minutes after dropping into the canyon.
One of the orcas broke water’s surface with their dorsal while the other hung low, their blows sweeping over the shallow swell lines. We waited patiently while they ducked below the waves maintaining a consistent 3-minute dive interval before resurfacing again. At first, we noticed just 3 then 4, then 10 and finally 12 individuals. The others must have been hiding underneath when we first saw the blows. The large pod had 3 young males with sprouting dorsal fins and one small calf missing her dorsal fin all together. This calf’s known as
Chopper by the charter company who appear to have named all the whales. They don't know what caused her dorsal injury but they haven’t noticed it affect her ability to keep up with her pod. Also in the pod was the newest calf of this season
Indie. It was first photographed less than 10 days ago and presumed to be a the calf less than a month old!
The pod held a line formation with the calves tucked in the centre, close to their mothers. Orcas have very strong social bonds within their pod which is demonstrated by remaining close together and facing the same way while travelling.
While watching the orcas a rare bird caught the eye of the deckie Jacko. A Streaked Shearwater! The second sighting in Bremer history and the 3rd for the South West! Streaked shearwaters breed in the North West Pacific from Japan to South East China and are vagrant to SW Western Australia. The fleeting visitor flew above the orca in amongst a flock of flesh footed shearwaters before taking off. A very exciting sight to see!
Leaving the large pod, we picked up another trio of orcas heading south. The calf was turning upside down and gliding past the vessel revealing his white belly glowing in the blue water. The pod continued travelling south, diving for 7 minutes at a time and surfacing with a few close passes. By the time our crew realised the pod
had led us 9 miles (18km) out of the hotspot a total of 70km offshore. We were now in over 3000m of water, some of the deepest ever explored on one of these tours apparently! Today’s trip out to the canyon was further south than the charter company have ever been.
With killer whales with us all day we followed them into some of the deepest water ever explored.
With a long journey back ahead of us, the captain called
last drinks, we took our final photos and we began our long journey back to shore! More napping! But just before we reached the jetty we stopped at Glass Island where we saw some seals! A super finish to the day!
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Sue
non-member comment
Orcas Galore!
Amazing experience for you both and so well written about, my interest never waned. 😊😊