29/04/2024
A look back on the 2023/24 Bremer season!
*Warning graphic content*
Last week we wrapped up our Bremer season and left the wonders of the Southern Ocean behind for the winter. While the Alison Maree gets lifted out of the water for her annual dolly-up, we’re left reminiscing on some of our favourite and most memorable moments from our time in the Bremer Canyon this season - here’s some of the highlights!
🥳 Those that have followed us closely or have been onboard with us might know that there is still mystery around where the Bremer orcas go during the winter and when exactly they arrive back in the Bremer Canyon. This season, we returned to the Canyon a few weeks earlier than usual, in December, to investigate. To our absolute delight, orcas were sighted during our first charter back on the Southern Ocean, which was actually a dedicated pelagic bird watching tour. Razor and Split Tip’s groups were among the first sighted for the season, and some of the last, which begs the question… how long do these pods utilise the area? Perhaps some don’t venture far at all…
🤗 This clearly isn’t the case for Sara and Echo’s pod who made a grand return to the Canyon after not having been sighted in 4 years. This pod was seen almost every day following their return in late-January and almost always in close association with Cookie and El Notcho’s pod, which for a number of years have not been overly interactive with our vessel. But that all changed this year! These groups were highly sociable and interactive, perhaps due to influence of the playful new addition, Comet. Even the normally aloof male, El Notcho, made a few close passes throughout the season.
💀 While it is not uncommon for us to come across evidence of recent predation events, in the form of birds squabbling over scraps and large, pungent oil slicks on the surface, it is much less common to witness a hunt unfold in front of our eyes. This season however, we witnessed countless surface predation events. In fact, over a two-week period in March, a time during which predations on beaked whales have not commonly been recorded in past years, we witnessed Split Tip’s, Cookie’s and Sara’s pods working cooperatively to successfully hunt at least 8 beaked whales, at the surface. While watching these events unfold can be very confronting and often even emotional for those onboard, it really is nature at its absolute wildest and rawest and we are privileged to be able to see nature at work.
☠️ The orcas demonstrated their highly efficient, cooperative and at times, brutal, hunting techniques on so many occasions but there were a few moments that stood out:
- The many high-speed prey pursuits which saw us charging into the wind and swell at full throttle to keep up with the apex predators, often with the larger mature males dropping back and surging alongside us or in our wake.
- When the orcas hunted a large female Cuvier’s beaked whale at the surface, separating her calf from her and then carefully tiring her out before delivering the final blow and sharing her carcass at the surface, without sparing us any of the gory visuals.
- Incredible aerial displays including repeated breaching, tail slapping and head lunging as the orcas herded and hunted the masses of juvenile bluefin tuna migrating through the area.
- The moment underwater footage revealed Kirra’s calf, Basil, carrying the head of a beaked whale, tailed by several large whaler sharks.
🥰 While witnessing a hunt is an incredible experience, some of our favourite days are when the orcas are relaxed and already have full tummies. We were lucky enough to be amongst several play sessions this season, watching on as mostly calves and sub-adults rolled around at the surface, nuzzling, nibbling and play fighting each other. Occasionally we became part of the game as the more inquisitive individuals swam rings around the Alison Maree, causing a Mexican wave of cheers, or played in the bubbles off our stern. While witnessing these behaviours is such a treat for those onboard, it is also a testament to the health of this orca population, given they have so much excess time to play, mate and socialise, rather than always foraging for food.
👶🏼 Another indication of the health of the Bremer orca population was the addition of two new calves over the winter! Both with a dark yellow tinge to their white patches which faded throughout the season as we watched them build their fat stores and saw their little personalities develop in front of our eyes. First spotted was the newest member of Alki’s pod, Nicki’s calf, Maui (originally named Moana before we realised she is actually a he!). Only weeks later, Comet, belonging to Halley (from Sara’s pod), stole the show and everyone’s hearts when she showed up in the Canyon and very quickly warmed to us, never passing down an opportunity to race along the sides of the Alison Maree and look up at the smiling faces waving back to her.
🐋 But it wasn’t all about the orcas… throughout the season we witnessed a diverse array of marine fauna making the most of the highly productive waters of the Bremer Sub-Basin. We sighted pilot whales, beaked whales, s***m whales, false killer whales, bottlenose dolphins, common dolphins, blue whales, humpback whales, a fin whale, a Bryde’s whale, giant squid, sunfish and a variety of seabirds including some rare species, such as the Endangered Hutton’s shearwater and the northern royal albatross.
💩 While we patiently awaited our first s***m whale sighting for the year, the last thing we expected was to see a group of them being pursued and attacked by the orcas. This astounding interaction made international news as the s***m whales formed a rosette and one of the individuals appeared to release its bowels in response to the attack. Thankfully the orcas moved off, supposedly without having harmed the s***m whales, however this interaction has raised numerous questions around the observed behaviours, and we are working to gain more of an insight into the drivers behind these interesting responses from both species.
🥡 Another notable encounter was with a pod of pilot whales that charged onto the scene of a predation as members of Alki’s pod feasted on a beaked whale carcass. They almost herded the orca out of the area, only moments after the beaked whale took its last breath, forcing Alki’s pod to take their lunch to-go! The relationship between pilot whales and orca is poorly understood as well as the presence of pilot whales within mammalian predation events as non-mammal feeders. These interactions certainly raise questions, but observations such as these can assist in gaining further knowledge about their relationship with one another.
🦭 Another exciting addition was the Australian sea lion pup, born on Glasse Island in January. Given this island is not a recognised pupping ground, we couldn’t believe our eyes when we saw the floppy newborn appear from behind its mother, with afterbirth still on the rocks surrounding them. It was such a joy calling past the island each afternoon and seeing the little one playing in a rock pool or hiding out in the safety of an overhanging rock while mum was out foraging.
🦈 While we unfortunately didn’t get the opportunity to wave our orca friends goodbye for the season, our last day on the water was still one to remember as we stumbled across the carcass of a swordfish. Usually a deep sea-dwelling fish, this was an extremely rare find, made even more astonishing by the presence of a hammerhead shark and a mako shark, scavenging from the remains. With no other vessels nearby and the water still clouded with blood from the carcass which had large bite marks in its flesh, we ended the season fuelled with even more questions about the wonders of the deep and knowing that we really have only scratched the surface of what goes on in the Southern Ocean. What a way to end an incredible season!
A huge thank you to everyone who joined us on our killer whale expeditions this season. Thank you also to our wonderful volunteer photographers and Marine Biologist interns for contributing their time and talent/knowledge to document these incredible interactions. We are already missing the wonders of the Southern Ocean and are busting to get back out there! We’re so excited to again be kick-starting our 2024/25 Bremer Canyon killer whale expeditions in December and look forward to welcoming those that plan to join us onboard and to keeping the rest of you updated via our blog posts!
Photographs taken by this year’s incredibly talented onboard photographers (see watermarks). Blog written by Marine Biologists, Jennah Tucker and Jade Cantrall.
