Killer Whales Hunting in Algoa Bay
By Lloyd Edwards

1. News

Reports of a massive school of 500 Indo-Pacific dolphins just off Shark Rock Pier came pouring in from early on Thursday morning. Thanks to our team of dedicated cetacean spotters along the beach front. We had a late start with passengers from the cruise liner Europa and only left port at 9:30am. It was then quite a surprise that we found the dolphins in pretty much the same place, two hours later. After spending our allotted 20 minutes of close encounter as per our permit, we left them and headed towards St Croix Island.

Suddenly the dolphins strange behaviour made sense. We came across a pod of 8 killer whales lurking around in the deep water at the Bell Buoy, 1 nautical mile from the shore. Excitement on our catamaran “My Bru” reached fever pitch as the pod amused us for the next 20 minutes. It looked like there were 3 males, 4 females and a calf.

This pod has been spotted further West down our coast, but this was their first visit to Algoa Bay. The large male really stood out as well as an individual named “Lefty”. Like the notorious shark killers “Port and Starboard”, he also has a floppy dorsal fine which, as his name indicates, is bent over to the left side. Scientists are of the opinion that this is caused from stress.

While we were observing them, a humpback cow and calf pair appeared. It is well documented that killer whales will attack the defenseless calf while the mother does everything in her power to protect her offspring. If the killers do succeed in separating the calf, they will drown it and eat only the tongue. Unfortunately we could not stick around as we still had to get to St Croix Island to see the penguins, so could not hang around to watch proceedings.

Two male killer whales, a female and a calf swim off Summerstrand. They were part of a pod of 8. Taken with a Nikon D810 full frame, ISO 160, 200mm zoom, f/8 and 1/1250th second.

A male killer whale surfaces in front of Raggy Charters catamaran "My China".

A male killer whale "tail slaps" in front of the Port Elizabeth stadium in Algoa Bay.

A male and female killer whale patrol the coast off Summerstrand, Port Elizabeth.

A male killer whale tail slaps.

This killer whale is well known up and down the coast of South Africa. His floppy dorsal fin is probably caused from stress. Aptly his name is "Lefty"!