Orca encounter

[pixc]

We went fishing today near Pukehine Beach, near Tauranga. BF took the kayake out while I played good mumsies with the kids on the beach. Anyways, he wasnt out far...i could till see him, when he turned about and headed straight back, paddling like there was no tomorrow. He happend across a pod of Orcas and crapped himself. A couple of boats turned up and the orcas were swimming around them.

It was cool to see them ...but the fishing turned to crap

[**AJ**]

Wicked!!!

[Steam]

We saw Orca a couple of weeks ago in Wellington Harbour, from the boat I work on. It was I guess a mum and dad and a baby, three of them, one smaller, and they hung around about 20 meters away for about 5 minutes before effortlessly outpacing us and disappearing into the distance. It was cool! They are big!!
You are lucky to see them Pixc, most people never will.

[spudchucka]

I've had two encounters with Orcas while windsurfing. Tends to turn the water in the immediate vacinity a slight brown colour but once you get over the fright and get some distance between you and them its a fantastic experience.

[Fat Tony]

Wow! One of the most beautiful creatures in the world in my humble opinion.

[Titanium]

Back in the good old days when I was a dive instructor ..... had some Orcas swim behind the class that was being taught in the channel at Goat Island!

Chasing sting rays apparently.

[Crisis management]

Orca's are neat! When you see a family group hunting stingray its like a pride of lions rounding up antelope, really awesome (I wouldn't want to be a stingray tho...).

Couple of things to do if you see Orca;
Call Ingrid Visser on "0800 see orca" (whatever those numbers are) she is a marine biologist who is now the world expert on Orca. Ingrid lives near Warkworth but travels the country studying Orca, if she is in the vicinity she will go out to photograph and record the pod.
Take some photo's of the Orca, they are identified by their dorsal fins generally so you don't have to haul it up on the beach for the photo's.....
Count the number you see, the bulls have the big dorsal fins, the cows the littler ones and the calves are obviously smaller.

Call Ingrid and let her know what you have, she will be very grateful.

PS. They don't eat people but are quite keen on seals and will launch themselves up the beach to take seals....thats really awesome to see, 2 tonnes of teeth at high speed

[Keith the Pom]

I wuz stopping over at Kaikoura on Sat-20 & Sun-21-Jan. Part of a 4-month NZ tour I'm doing down here right now.

On the Sunday (21/01) me and the missus did the touristy-thing and took a couple of boat trips out to; yunno, 'whale watch' and 'swim-with-dolphins'. Had a great time.

We saw a small family Orca pod swim behind us - mum, dad, and junior. Here's a pic of dad.

The Dusky Dolphins obliged too.

But the REAL DEAL was this Giant Sperm Whale diving down to the depths of the Kaikoura Canyon.

We got real lucky that day. Got tons of pics and video footage to remind us of just what a really special time it was. Once in a lifetime, I guess.

Thanks

[MyGSXF:Me]

We saw a small family Orca pod swim behind us - mum, dad, and junior. Here's a pic of dad.The Dusky Dolphins obliged too.

Wicked photos KTP!!!

Years ago I got the privaledge of swimming with Old Scarry, a huge dolphin, over 6ft, at Onekaka wharf near Takaka. She was an old loner, but loved human company! I was on my own, & was a murky ole day, so I was a bit apprehensive.

If you banged rocks together under water, she came to the sound.. so I did.. & she came! At first I just about crapped meself.. at the size of her! I was standing chest deep in the water & she was right in front of me.. we stayed there looking at each other for a little while, then as she turned sideways, I just leaned over & put my hand round her fin & she towed me around a bit!! Then I let go & she tore off out to sea really fast, then come tearing back in again & stopped in front of me again.. we repeated this game a few times, well, I think she was "playing".. till she decided to leave.

Was a truely magical experience!!

[pixc]

ohhh cool. You must of felt so privileged that she approached you and seemed to enjoy to your company

[Scorpygirl]

Really cool!! I have never seen an Orca but there is something special about their hunting ability. I always remember the film footage from a David Attenborough series of an Orca chasing a seal up onto the beach, catching it and then playing with it like a cat does with a mouse. How the Orca didn't beach itself was an amazing piece of agility. Awesome animals.

[pixc]

From the beach I could see them jumping out of the water around the bigger boat. Im guessing it was the male because of his huge dorsel fin (It was taller then BF in his kayak) He wasnt leaping right out, not quite enough to put air under his belly. The female took the smaller one away in the other direction where they seemed to check out a smaller boat. I saw her with the tail half of her body out of the water slapping the water. Quite magical really. I couldnt tell if there was three or four. I couldnt tell you if they were pissed off or playing..seemed to me they were 'sight seeing' the humans maybe. It seems around here that when you spot dolphines, the sharks make themselves more obvious, (Dolphines were seen beaching themselves with a few of them with bites) not long after, the orcas come.