Killer Whales of Bremer Bay

30th January – 3rd February

Oh Boy! Where do I start? Normally I would show a map, talk about our camp and the area, then get into our activities. Not today. Today I get straight to the exciting stuff. Orcas. But you know what I’m like, I do tend to prattle on a bit so first off, a few things that we learnt while on our cruise.

Fact no. 1      Orcas are not whales, they are in fact the largest member of the dolphin family.

Fact no. 2      The Orcas main diet, at least around Bremer Bay area, is beaked whale and giant squid.

Fact no. 3      I love ’em! Orcas that is, not giant squid. Not that there’s anything wrong with them.

Oh by the way, as you look at the photos in this post, you can tell the males apart from the females by their dorsal fin. The male’s dorsal fin is narrower at the body, and much taller than the females. When young, the dorsal is bent, as the male ages the dorsal will straighten up.

So, let me start from the beginning. I booked this trip as a Christmas gift for myself and Peter, splashing all out and upgrading to the VIP Captains Lounge. More about that later. It was an 0800 start and we had to be at the harbour by 0730.

We cruised about 20 nautical miles (37 kms) from the harbour out to the Bremer Canyon. The Bremer Canyon is actually one of a series of canyons, nestled along the edge of the continental shelf. In places, it is up to 5900mtrs deep. This unique biosphere is home to many creatures, including the Orca. To be fair the Orcas don’t live in the canyon, they can only hold their breath for up to fifteen minutes, so can’t go that deep. However, their food sources do live in, and around the canyon, so it is a perfect place for the orcas to hunt.

We had just reached the edge of the canyon when the atmosphere in the Captains Lounge changed from relaxed watchfulness to urgent anticipation as Orca activity was sighted. It didn’t take this experienced crew long to assess the situation.

We had cruised into the final stages of an Orca hunt, and the rest of the pod were racing in to help finish the kill and share the food. Both to the left and the right of the boat these amazing creatures were speeding past us to help their family.

There’s no doubt that the Orcas are the apex predator of the big blue, but “Killer Whale” is a bit of a misnomer. Ancient sailors witnessed the Orcas hunting and killing whales, and they quickly got a reputation for being a whole lot nastier than they are. Later, when Orcas were brought into captivity (1961) Orca the Whale Killer, didn’t have much of a ring to it, and thanks to the wonderful world of marketers, the Killer Whale was born. Much more thrilling, I’m sure it sold many more tickets. Anyway, I’m prattling on way too much. Here are some more photos of Orcas as they enjoyed their meal.

Interesting fact:

“Genus, Species – Orcinus orca. The Latin name Orcinus translates as “belonging to Orcus”. Orcus was a Roman god of the netherworld, and this genus name is likely a reference to the hunting prowess of the killer whale. In Latin, orca translates “large-bellied pot or jar,” a reference to the shape of the whale’s body.”

Thank you Google

Hmm, large-bellied pot whale? Definitely not a name to inspire fear. 😊

Orcas develop very strong family bonds and will stay with their family pod their whole lives. They, also show respect for, and take pride in their kill. How do they do this? One of the males in the pod will take the head of its prey, in this case a beaked whale, and swim around with it for a while, then another will take the head and do the same. Apparently, this will go on until the feeding is complete. Then the last male with the head will let it go and it will fall to the bottom of the canyon. Sounds weird, I know, but our crew have been researching and studying these whales for almost a decade. They’ve come to understand them and the way they interact with each other. The crew have researched the pods in the area and know them each by name and personality. They have a great deal of respect for the Orcas. That alone is reason enough to book with them (Whale Watch Western Australia) if ever you have the opportunity to go Orca watching.

On closer inspection of the photo below I noticed something just under the water near the big male’s head. I sent the image to one of the crew who confirmed my suspicions, the Orca in the shot had the beaked whale’s head in its mouth. See if you can see it.

Did you? Pretty cool hey. Nothing is wasted from the kill. The orcas will share the meat, the birds get all the leftovers, and the creatures on the ocean floor will pick what’s left of the carcass clean.

Male orcas can weigh as much as 6,000kg, but can only hold their breath for about fifteen minutes. The Beaked whales only weigh 3,000kg (maximum), but, they can stay underwater for about an hour and a half. So, how do the orcas hunt the beaked whales when they could simply stay under water and swim away. Well, in layman’s terms, the orcas stalk the beaked whales, not too close to alarm them, but close enough. Somehow the orcas know when the beaked whaled needs to surface to breath. That is when the rest of the pod are called in, and they simply use their weight and their numbers to prevent their prey from surfacing. In short, most of the time they simply drown them. If they do have to inflict mortal wounds, they will not begin feeding until their prey is dead.

I know we were there to see the orcas, and see them we did. But we also saw our fair share of seabirds. There were hundreds of Shearwaters (Flesh-Footed I think) enjoying the orca’s kill. And I was thrilled when a couple of Albatross cruised overhead. Amazing birds. I believe that the last two photos in this group are of a White-Faced Storm-Petrel.

The VIP Captain’s Lounge gave us access to, you guessed it, the Captain’s Lounge, or the wheel house. What else did the upgrade give us? Well, it was climate controlled, we dressed for cold weather but needn’t have. We had uninterrupted views, left and right, through open windows, as well as the front window, and of course we could go to any other part of the boat if we wanted to, even reserved seats at the bow of the boat. We were provided with iced water, tea or coffee and food throughout the voyage. Not big servings, but good, quality nibbles. Fruit, sushi, wraps, toasties, cake, pies, sausage roll, finishing up with a cheese platter and a generous glass of bubbly on the way home.

We were the only guests in the lounge, so we had the captain and a couple of crew members all to ourselves. But here is where we got the best benefit. As you know Peter has very poor hearing. In the Captain’s Lounge, there was no engine noise, all the announcements were made from here, so he could hear everything clearly. Also, we got to pick the crew’s brains. We had information on tap, that is why we learned so much from this cruise, and the icing on the cake, they had their dog, Alfie, with them.

There is so much more I could talk about, the Orcas truly are magnificent creatures, but I’ll let you do your own research. I will however, take my cap off to the crew. A tight-knit family whose years of research of the orcas, has rewarded them with amazing insight into the lives of these gentle giants of the sea. The fact that they do operate these tours and share their knowledge with us is, in my humble, money worth spent.   

Whale Watch Western Australia post each day’s events from every whale watch cruise. This is a great reminder of the day and captures images of action that happened that the passengers might have missed. I know there was so much activity, that Peter and I missed a lot. The link below is the link to the Daily Whale and our day on the boat, 01-02-2024.

https://whalewatchwesternaustralia.com/single-post/2024/02/01/double-predation-in-the-bremer-canyon/

Our route back to shore led us past a small Island, (Glasse Island – I think) which was home to hundreds of nesting Crested Terns and some very relaxed fur seals.

I know one thing for sure, if we have the opportunity to do this again…we will.

See you out there somewhere

On tow and on the go!