Raglan surfer Ross Henderson had some competition to catch a wave at Whale Bay yesterday - having to share a break with a couple of orcas.
Mr Henderson - who has lived in Raglan for more than 30 years - said it was a privilege to get that close to the mother and her calf. "It's not the first time, but it's the closest I've been."
Mr Henderson was surfing about 8.30am-9am when the orcas started swimming near him.
There were a couple of other surfers there at the time, but they "got out pretty quickly".
But Mr Henderson stayed. "The mother was busy teaching her calf the ropes," he said.
He gave up the "best wave of the morning" to the orcas. Artist Miranda Jane Caird snapped Mr Henderson's encounter from the beach after spotting the orca from her kitchen window.
She said it was not uncommon to see orcas at Raglan. They "cruised" around Raglan's waters for at least an hour yesterday.
see, orca’s are smarter than sharks and have echo location to tell what you are a little better than Mr. Whitey. but that doesn’t mean I don’t think they would eat me. I would probably get out. but on the plus side, if they are around you know there are absolutely no white sharks in the area.
Never shared the lineup with an orca, but have with sharks, dolphins, pissed off sea lions, etc. I would definitely shit myself if something that big came crusing in that close.
The old adage applies here, "I don't have to be faster than the orca, just faster than the other guys in the crowd!"
Quite a few years ago my girlfriend and I kayak toured off the east side of Vancouver Island. We were told that in the PNW there are two types of Orcas... "residents" and "transients."
The residents eat Salmon while the transients eat anything they want including whales, etc.
I don't know if that distinction applies elsewhere but apparently there are only a few accounts of humans being attacked by Orcas - at least in the wild.