Orca pair swim close to onlookers

An orca and her calf passed underneath a North Shore wharf last week, while the rest of the pod passed nearby.

Gasps of adoration rang out from Murrays Bay wharf on October 25, as spectators watched in awe as a mother orca and her calf swam right beneath their feet.

Jacky Reynolds, from Campbells Bay, said the experience was ‘‘one of the most special things I’ve ever experienced’’.

The crowd tried not to fall off the wharf as they leaned over to get a better look, and gasped excitedly as they watched the pair, a mother with a calf following under her fluke, swim below.

Sightings were reported at Waiake Beach from earlier that afternoon on the Whale and Dolphin Watch North Shore Facebook page.

The pod arrived from around the northern point of Murrays Bay around 2pm approaching the wharf.

‘‘Are they going to swim right under us?’’ an onlooker said.

Reynolds said the sighting was timed with her three-year anniversary of living on the Shore.

‘‘For my anniversary, I get to see an orca and a baby basically swim beneath my feet. It’s pretty special.’’

The pod was first sighted in Torbay, then Browns Bay and then finally Murrays Bay.

They were last seen heading south down the coast.

LAINE MOGER/STUFF To the delight of onlookers, a mother orca with a baby under her fluke, swam under Murrays Bay wharf.