Was up in Shetland for a week’s diving a couple of years ago and in between dives we were having lunch on a beach and just chilling out, when all of a sudden a large dorsal fin surfaced in the middle of the bay – a cry of “dolphin” went up and then another fin surfaced and then we realised it was Mr and Mrs Orca and their kids out on a seal hunting expedition.
The 2 adults came down either side of the bay to the shore line and crossed by each other and back up the other side of the bay whilst the young hung around in the middle of the bay just plowtering up and down.
We just watched with our mouths open and only reacted once they were leaving the bay. Half the guys rushed to the headland to see them go out of the bay whilst 4 of us (and the dog
) ran to the one of the RIBs and followed them out.
We then had half an hour following them (at a very respectful distance I can tell you…. given it was the first time any of us had ever seen them) from bay to bay whilst they continued with the same hunting pattern. We did not get into the water although the dog (a border collie/ lab mix – hmm 2 idiotic breeds in 1
) did want to and had to be restrained
We just came to a halt in the middle of the bays and watched them hunting. The young passed our RIB (in neutral) so close that we could have touched them on the way out of the bay.
It was an absolutely amazing experience and completely unexpected. We had been diving in one of the bays earlier but I am sure they would have given us a wide berth and missed out that bay had we been there.
When we got back we spoke with some fishing guys and when we told them, they said that the orcas had been in the South of the islands the day before and some guy had got a few photos of them trying to flick a seal of a rock with their tails. They would come screaming up to the seal that was perched on a rock and at the last moment do a handbrake turn and turn 180 degrees and try and knock the seal off.
Eventually they gave up and moseyed away and about 20 minutes later a very sheepish seal makes a very quick get away from its safe haven. They had a couple of these photos in the paper.
We took a few photos and I will try and see if I can find them and post them.
Regards
Simon