Visiting orca have a whale of a time
Residents were treated to two pods of orca cruising around the Tauranga Harbour yesterday morning.
Bay of Plenty-based marine mammal permit holder and educator Nathan Pettigrew said it was not rare for pods to come together, but also not common.
“Every now and then two pods will meet up and have a kick-around. The pods were about 3km and an hour apart.”
The two pods consisted of about 14 or 15 orca in total, Pettigrew said.
Cheri Gallagher was driving over the Hairini Bridge about 7am when she saw about six orca cruising along.
She pulled over and joined a growing crowd watching the “beautiful creatures”, two were on one side of the bridge heading towards Fraser Cove in Waimapu Estuary while three or four smaller orca stayed on the other side of the bridge.
Having not seen them in that area before, it was a brilliant way to start the day, she said.
“It was an absolute treat.”
She was worried, however, that low tide might bring the pod some troubles.
Pettigrew said this could be the case, and would keep an eye on them.
By about 9am the orca had moved to the Maungatapu Bridge, where he said traffic had come to a complete standstill.
Pettigrew advised anyone wanting to see the pod to head to Mount Maunganui as the orca headed back out.
People should keep their distance from the orca, he said, particularly boats during the low tide.
While the tide was on the change, it could be stressful for the orca if boats got too close.
“You need to give them a lot of space.” Pettigrew said he would work to identify the group.
Asked if it were possible the pod could include the juvenile orca stranded and returned to sea from Porangahau Beach, he said it would be difficult to tell. He said it was unlikely it would have moved north so quickly, and juveniles were hard to identify.