Killer whales

[scubadog]

Not sure If this is in the right forum, but here goes.
Within the last few days, a Killer whale [ Orca ] has appeared right in the middle of the local dive site, which covers all the shore and boat dives in our area. It´s been spotted within 50 foot off the beach, and again from the local ribs within 1 km from the beach.
As yet, know one has seen it whilst diving, that doesn´t mean it hasn´t seen any divers. Does anyone know the relationship between divers and Orca´s ?
The boats from Garrucha have so heavily fished a large part of the off shore area, I was wondering wether it had been brought close in shore in the search for food.
Would divers be viewed as competition for the food avaliable ? Or am I talking complete Bolx, and there´s nothing to worry about. After all, they are big beasties.

[Norseman]

Up here in Northern Norway many Orcas come every year in late October for a herring-fest. It is quite common to go after them and have a swim, but it's very rarely a regular Scubadiver will get anywhere near them. They seem to be frightened by bubbles.
Snorkling works fine and you can get quite close to them. Noone has ever been hurt by an Orca here in Norway (nor the rest of the world to my knowledge).

You are not a competitor nor potential food for an Atlantic Orca as far as I've understood it. The Orcas here go after fish. On the west coast of California they have been known to go after seals and whale calfs. I guess if you've got a proper beer gut you could be mistaken for a calf.

Go swim with him. The fact that he's a loner doesn't make it a least bit suspicious. I'm sure he's kind. Good Orca... goooooood orc...

Do tell if you get near it. And if you get back.



Kyrre

[Dr Stevil]

Originally Posted by Norseman

. Noone has ever been hurt by an Orca here in Norway (nor the rest of the world to my knowledge).

Quite correct, there's no documented evidence of an Orca attacking a human. Mind you, I wouldn't want to be the first one
Orcas are extremely intelligent and I'm quite sure they look at us and think "non-food animal". If it's alone then it may be ill and about to die or it may be something of a pariah and have been driven from it's pod, these are "social animals" after all.

[Helen F H]

I was fizzing off on the clyde with my regular buddy when her eyes "bugged". I gave her the "whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat" look and she just shook her head. Once we surfaced she said "something big and black went right behind you"
I tell you, my arse has never gone up a ladder quite so quick.
No idea what it was, and for those of you unfarmiliar with the Clyde, the vis in the top 10-15m is, to put it mildly, crap - so no chance to get a proper look. There were no seals around, or dolphins.

[tom]

Originally Posted by Steve W

or it may be something of a pariah and have been driven from it's pod, these are "social animals" after all.

Maybe they drove it out because it had started eating divers?

[Fiona]

Originally Posted by Porg

I was fizzing off on the clyde with my regular buddy when her eyes "bugged". I gave her the "whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat" look and she just shook her head. Once we surfaced she said "something big and black went right behind you"

Helen are you sure it wasn't a submarine

[Snash]

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