Cape Town - You’d love to be a dolphin, right? Well, wrong actually – at least in False Bay in late autumn, because that’s when orcas arrive, and these exceptionally efficient predators have dolphins right at the top of their menu.
Right on cue, the orcas (aka killer whales) arrived back in False Bay last week, providing Simon’s Town eco-tour boat owner and conservationist Dave Hurwitz and his passengers with some stunning photo opportunities of these amazing creatures.
The pod size was about nine animals, he reported on his return on Thursday evening.
“It included two males – the first time we’ve sighted males in the bay and one very young calf.
“We first spotted them hunting dolphins at about midday just east of Roman Rock Lighthouse (off Simon’s Town). They killed one of the dolphins, they were probably teaching the calf (to hunt), and then they lost interest and headed off towards Seal Island.”
Hurwitz said he’d followed the orcas for 11 nautical miles (just over 20km) as they continued on a course towards Rooi Els on the eastern side of False Bay before leaving them.
“On previous occasions orcas have hung around for a few weeks and we are certainly going to remain on high alert and will hopefully enjoy further sightings. Holding thumbs!” he said.
Around this time last year, Hurwitz watched four killer whales tracking and hunting a huge school of several hundred common dolphins.
Over a single three-hour period, across an area of six nautical miles between Kalk Bay, Seal Island and Strandfontein, he saw them catch and kill at least four and perhaps as many as six dolphins.
In May 2009, he first captured remarkable pictures of a pod hunting and catching a dolphin, and he believed this had been the same group.
“I’ve been going out into the bay my whole life and until then (2009), I’d really only had one or two sightings. Since then I’ve seen them a total of five times, but now they’ve been around constantly for two weeks,” he said last year.
He also reminded other boaters that it was against the law to approach whales and dolphins directly or to harass them in any way.
Orcas can reach seven-to-eight metres in length and weigh up to eight tons. They occur in all the world’s oceans and swim from the surface down to 3 000m. Despite their fearsome reputation, there is no record of a wild orca attacking a human.
To see all Hurwitz’s pictures, visit www.Facebook.com/boatcompany - Sunday Argus