Just saw the amazing pics in today's Age of an Orca leaping up out of the water surfing the wake of a yacht near Baja in Mexico. It looked to be about 500m from the shore. I was kiting those same waters just last year (it was awesome)
So dumb question - what would happen if you ran into one of those bad boys whilst kiting? Body dragging maybe? Has anyone seen one while kiting? I always had this (clearly wrong) impression that they never ventured into the warmer waters we like to kite?
I saw one just off the West End of Rottnest Island as I was getting ready to go for a surf a few years back, I decided to skip the surf that day despite the conditions being near on perfect.
I spoke to the guy that had been a ranger there for years and he reckons there had been several sightings at the same spot over the years, usually around November as the whales make there way back down the coast.
I don't think they attack humans in the wild. The ones that are held captive in Sea World etc will sometimes turn on their trainers and kill them, but that's because they are pissed off for being trapped in a small tank.
There are quite a few around Raglan and they come close to surfers sometimes, but nobody seems too worried.
About 6 years ago came off my board about a k offshore and one surfaced right behind me about 40 feet away gave me the ****s till I saw it was an orca,just looked at me and carried on,made me get back on the board fairly quickly though and rode a bit closer in for the rest of the day.
Orca are amazing - they are even found here in PNG. as i kid i read Jacques Cousteau's journey to papua new guinea where he documents a pod of orca killing a hammer head just to show the divers how bad ass they are.
you guys with shark problems should look into the concept, off shore orca patrols!http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wildlife/6668575/Killer-whales-attack-and-eat-sharks.html
A couple of orcas swum into the Nelson (northern NZ South Island) estuary a few years back so I jumped onto a friend's kite gear to have a look. One much bigger than the other (dunno if male/female or female/calf). As I got closer I realised that the large one's dorsal fin was well over head high, it must have been at least 2m. I never realised how big they can get. As is typical the wind started to die out so I high-tailed it out of there. Orca's main diet here is sting-rays so they are often close to shore, although the population is not large.
They will go wherever a whale goes. In fact they have been up here the last few days making the whalesharks harder to find
I was talking to a DEC ranger a few years ago, and apparently a group of Orca's got into Shark Bay and decimated the Dugong population there. Not sure of the year, but a while back. He was saying they hunt in lines up to a k apart and clean up all the fat juicy sea animals in the way.
I would not like to be in the ocean around them for sure.
Dave
Attacks on humans by wild orca: ???
Attacks on humans by GWS: 5 in recent history....
If what's being attributed to orca's is correct, I say VOTE 1 ORCA for WA beaches....
IMO, I'd rather go kiting with orca's in the water than GWS's....
Ha ha Juddy
I think they are more selective in their decision making than a shark.
If you haven't seen hw they hunt as a team check this out:
Saw a pod of maybe 5 on saturday at d local. Filled my wetsuit and stayed close to shore after that.
orca's are the only other creture that is known to kill other animals just for fun, other than humans. Saw this on a doco where they filmed a pod playing with a seal and throwing it around , I would not want to be in the water with one of those bad boy's.
Apparently there is an orca pod heading south from Kalbarri at the moment, according to the Gero guardian. Fantastic to have all these amazing predators following the humpback migration, but gee it makes you nervous about your toes waiting for a wave or swimming your kite back in!
Love it... I think.
Channel nine news tonight
Orca grabbed his trainer and dragged him in
No way would I be in the water with them
^true , but Orca's in warmer water reported have different cultures and the same ones that hunt great whites are opportunistic hunters (usually in warmer waters), taking what ever they can get.
Great whites are a dangerous kill for the Orcas, so while you may achieve your bucket list, I wouldn't be confident you'll get a second attempt.
There are reports of orcas trying to get people and animals on the ice at the Antarctic.
Click on the link below the find Killer
www.coolantarctica.com/Antarctica fact file/History/Robert-Falcon-Scott2.php
www.google.com.au/search?q=killer+whale+scott+expedition&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&safe=active
