Last day of 2017 at Orne Harbour, Antarctica
This one is rare!! I can not stress that enough. I am very fortunate to live in a location where I would encounter orca from a small vessel multiple times a day for 6 months of the year. Then to cruise in a large ship scanning for orca in the Gerlache Strait can be easy and the chances of siting them from the ship whilst in transit to your next scheduled excursion location becomes quite high. However, spotting them whilst driving an hour or an hour and a quarter zodiac cruise is not so high.
One morning at 530am whilst scanning the area for orca as we got closer to Orne Harbour, which was our first day on the Peninsular with our new guests I spotted of a pod of small type B's aka Gerlache Killer Whales along the shoreline of the continent. YES!!! My heart skips a beat usually at that first moment I 100% know that I have spotted orca. Love that feeling.
The awesome news there was close to 20 of them and they were heading in the same direction as we were, which meant they might be within distance to interact with them from the smaller zodiac vessel. BOOM! To me this was the perfect way to end 2017. The only way to start the new year of 2018.
We got into the small zodiacs, which are lowered from the top deck via small cranes by our amazing ship crew. I get into my zodiac and head out of the small harbour to try and locate the pod with my binoculars. No such luck. I load up my zodiac with 10 guests from all over the world and let them know we are going on a hunt, an adventure. A hunt for orca.
After a moments of scanning and searching – CONTACT!! an awesome sight of numerous black fins about a mile a head of my vessel. We get closer and these animals get curious and come over for a quick investigation.
20 minutes later their behaviour started to change and they picked up their speed. A clear sign to me that they are ready to move off and say goodbye. That we stopped and watched them cruise off into the strait with a landscape of ice and glaciers.
A perfect way to end the year of 2017.
For more of my photos check out my Instagram feed: https://www.instagram.com/thomas_mitchell2912/
thomasjmitchell , you came out of nowhere and you are killing it in Steem with stunning content. This truly shows that when one is dedicated success does not take long to follow.
thomasjmitchell is a straight shooter and I am glad to see that he continues to give solid advice.
Such amazing animals. Apparently we incorrectly translated their names ... Their Latin name was translated as Killer Whales but it should actually be whale killers!
Wow ! Amazing Pictures. @thomasjmitchell
Great post,friend!! Nature have much to offer. I love to visit this continent. These whales should be preserved by all means,even as man's activities are impacting greatly on our globe. IUCN have a role to play even as global warming is affecting these creatures.
Awesome adventure.
Oh, it looks so cold.
Beautiful Adventure!
Whales have always been my favorite animals on earth! They're such friendly and gentle giants who have unfortunately become an endangered species...Thanks for the amazing backstory and photos!
Hard winter... i m not fine life there. Good photo @thomas
Love the whale pictures with the fantastic backdrop, keep them coming!