23/10/2026
A great day for our guests and science!
Two killer whales (orcas), a massive male accompanied by a female have been creating havoc along the South African coastline for the past fortnight.
Their story began off Kaysers Beach (East London) where they killed a southern right whale calf and reportedly remained in the area for a further 2 days - presumably feeding on it.
Next, they were seen off Kids Beach (Eastern Cape) before reaching Plettenberg Bay on the 14th of October, where multiple amateur drone pilots captured incredible footage of them attempting to prey upon another southern right whale calf. What stood out from this footage, beside the brutal side of nature was the courageous way the mother protected her calf for a gruelling 4 hours, before the orcas yielded & the mother & calf swam free.
The orca pair were again spotted on the 15th October off the coast of Knysna making their westward way down the coast past Jongensfontein (near Still Bay) where they attempted another predation on a southern right whale calf.
They were seen off Hermanus yesterday morning and our anticipation and excitement grew as the possibly of them visiting False Bay looked as if it would materialize.
Our main concern though, was for a mother and calf southern right whale and sub-adult humpback whales that were in False Bay for the whole day yesterday and we certainly did not want to witness them being preyed upon.
Chatting on the Town pier this morning to Pete Morgan (a land-based whale super-spotter) before our morning tour, I mentioned the possibility of them visiting the Bay and he agreed to keep a sharp lookout. Hardly 20 minutes later he called me to confirm that he had sighted them and provided their location.
Off we went along with our guests after sharing this information with Dr. Simon Elwen, who was keen to get biopsy samples from them for DNA analysis and possibly attach a satellite tag to one of them.
We were guided from the shore by Pete, but the animals were really making it difficult by spending nearly 15 minutes down time and then re-surfacing miles away. Eventually after nearly an hour we located them and Simon arrived on his research vessel.
Thereafter, as if the killer whales felt we had put in enough effort to be rewarded by them, they became super interactive and surface active – probably also heard the squeals and screams of excitement emanating from our boat.
The next 2 hours were simply magical as they surfaced and swam alongside us on the mirror calm ocean and graciously presented their flanks to the scientists who successfully took biopsy samples and attached a satellite tag to the female.
We were fortunately spared witnessing any predations on whales, but during the time we spent with them, they did “buzz” 3 Cape fur seals which leapt from the water with fright as they passed by them.
Whether they will continue their western sojourn will be revealed in the next few days.
UPDATE:
An image sent to me, captured by Simon Elwen’s team confirms that at least one Cape fur seal was killed and eaten.
