Joined
·
2,308 Posts
Imported post
Nice report, Steve, and nice pics. As regards orcas, there is apparently no report of a diver ever being attacked. Attitudes to orcas among divecentres seem to vary enormously in different parts of the world, some considering them harmless, others very dangerous. When we were in the Sea of Cortes (Mexico) we had a pod of orcas near us part of one dive. My buddy and I never saw them under water but heard them "singing" most of the dive. They were evidently very close to us and the Mexican diveguides were extremely anxious to get us back on board as fast as possible when we surfaced. When we got back to the divecentre, though, the owner said he and his sons snorkel with them regularly and the diveguides were just ignorant. People also dive/snorkel with orcas in Tryssfiord (close to Lofoten) in northern Norway. The orcas there feed on the herring shoals and appear to be completely uninterested in humans. In British Columbia (Canada), on the other hand, where there are two populations of orcas, residents, which eat salmon, and migrants, which eat seals and sealions, no-one is allowed in the water when there are orcas around, the reasoning being that you can't see whether you are dealing with residents or migrants and a migrant could possibly mistake a diver for a seal/sealion. It has never happened though.
Nice report, Steve, and nice pics. As regards orcas, there is apparently no report of a diver ever being attacked. Attitudes to orcas among divecentres seem to vary enormously in different parts of the world, some considering them harmless, others very dangerous. When we were in the Sea of Cortes (Mexico) we had a pod of orcas near us part of one dive. My buddy and I never saw them under water but heard them "singing" most of the dive. They were evidently very close to us and the Mexican diveguides were extremely anxious to get us back on board as fast as possible when we surfaced. When we got back to the divecentre, though, the owner said he and his sons snorkel with them regularly and the diveguides were just ignorant. People also dive/snorkel with orcas in Tryssfiord (close to Lofoten) in northern Norway. The orcas there feed on the herring shoals and appear to be completely uninterested in humans. In British Columbia (Canada), on the other hand, where there are two populations of orcas, residents, which eat salmon, and migrants, which eat seals and sealions, no-one is allowed in the water when there are orcas around, the reasoning being that you can't see whether you are dealing with residents or migrants and a migrant could possibly mistake a diver for a seal/sealion. It has never happened though.
