Okay, for this year. I don’t intend to stop blogging of course 🙂 One of the highlights of the last trip was this encounter with a pod of Orcas. Fairly close to the ship, tail slapping, breaching, upside down swimming, they were doing all you would hope for in Orcas. Determining the ecotype was a bit difficult this time, as they were in open water (typical for type A), didn’t have the yellow diatoms growing on them (which would be typical for type B). But close inspection did show a darker cape (typical for type B) and the eye patch also fitted type B better.
Type B’s are specializing in hunting seals and washing them off ice floes and are a bit smaller as the whale hunting type A’s. Most likely this pod just made it back south from a short trip to warmer waters, which would explain the lack of diatoms on their skin.
