Orca fireworks today on the Gallant Lady!! We were going to start our day with an 1on1 freediving/snorkelling practice when we received a radio call from our spotter plane, Nautilus Scout: a pod of 8 orcas, spotted northeast of La Reina, about 15 miles from our position.
Read MoreOn the way over we ran into a huge pod of bottlenose, numbering at least 500, and we spent more than an hour cruising with them, snorkeling and watching them jump and play in our wake. Now all the guests are snorkeling around Las Animas with dozens of sea lions and Guadalupe fur seals, more than we’ve ever seen there before actually.
Read MoreIt’s hard to explain the magnitude of what we saw because we didn’t just see mobula rays, not just see dolphins, or killer whales, but we were able to experience behavior which is something very special and it was thanks to the crew that was able to put us in great position every time and give us the time without rushing us.
Read MoreEverything has been incredible: the entire journey, the boat, the crew. The wildlife is incredible, in half of the trip we already have seen dolphins, orcas, blue whales, Bryde’s whales, fin whales, mobulas, hammerhead sharks, sea lions, gulls, pelicans, masked boobies, skuas, frigates and it’s only day 3!
Read MoreBut, the biggest life-changing experience has been swimming with the orcas. Juan David would take our skiff close to the orcas and then allow the orcas to come check us out. We would jump in the water and be within inches of these gigantic beautiful mammals who are just as curious about us as we are of them. I swam within inches of a family, the father, mother, and their baby.
Read MoreFrom there it was just an incredible and unbelievable time we and our guests spent with these wonderful and mighty animals. 3 hours of peaceful and very close interaction. We saw a very big adult with two young ones. One definitely a baby. And then some other three or four young females. In particular, those young females were very interested in us. They came to check the boat and spy hope on us multiple times. They swam around the boat and were very curious about the divers.
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Thanks to our spotter plane, we are now able to spot them quite easily, they normally congregate in groups of up to 10,000! We notice they are more active and breach more often when the sun goes down, we call it ”the sunset show”. One of the coolest behaviours Katie and I enjoy watching is the courtship behaviour, when a small group of males chases a female, she often times try to be evasive twisting and turning in different directions while the males mirror her movements, from above it looks like a beautiful slow-motion dance.
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