Encounter with aType D Orca

After an incredible hour with Type B1 Orcas which escorted us away from South Georgia, it was far from our minds that the following day would yield an even more amazing Orca encounter. 

We were on the bridge wings in the cold grey light of dawn. The first officer pointed out the ominous wall of ice on the horizon - iceberg A23a, the size of London, which is creeping slowly north towards South Georgia. Birding was a little slow, with several Blue Petrels and a single old adult Snowy Albatross the only birds of note in the first hour. Out of nowhere, Philip exclaimed he had seen a fin and sure enough we both latched on to what was clearly a male Orca, heading east towards our vessel. Predicting where it would surface, we were both quite shocked to see it had a rounded, almost bulbous head, and virtually no eye patch - surely a Type D! We looked at each other in amazement and the next time it surfaced we fired off rapid shots with our cameras. Quickly checking the viewfinder and BOOM! It was clearly a Type D! 

 

 Pandemonium broke out on deck as we tried to alert everyone; it was still early and there were few people around. Fortunately, the Orca was travelling steadily and continued to surface enabling a few people to scramble to the deck in time to get a glimpse, and for me to secure a bit of shaky video footage. The vessel maintained course, as did the Orca and it soon faded into the distance, leaving us shellshocked. We had always thought there was an outside chance of bumping into this most elusive and unknown of Orca ecotypes in subantartic waters, but we never for a moment thought it would actually happen.

 

Type D Orca live in subantarctic waters, are thought to be fish-feeders and are really quite distinctive. Along with the tiny white eyepatch, they have a very rounded head - think Pilot Whale - and a narrow, pointed, swept-back fin. With views like we had, it was really distinctive. Type Ds were identified from a mass stranding in New Zealand in 1955 but have been only rarely seen since. There is some great footage on Youtube from a research expedition done off Chile in 2019, which is worth a look. 

 

 

 

Antarctica!

 

Antarctica. It had been a long time in the planning and a long, long time in the dreaming. 

 

As a kid birder I used to make lists of my most desired species in the back of my notebooks- a kind of early bucket list. Always top of the lists would be Wandering Albatross - the bird with the longest wingspan of any living bird, and somewhere on that list, would be Emperor Penguin. Creeping in later, as my awareness increased, was perhaps the most attractive of seabirds, the Light-mantled Albatross. As I learned the distributions of these dream birds, I replaced Emperor Penguin with the similar-looking King Penguin, as it seemed the larger bird would be nigh on impossible to see, due to their inaccessible range in the icy heart of Antarctica. The two albatrosses kept their places; maybe one day I'd get a chance to see them.

 

 

Snowy (Wandering) Albatross 

 

Dreams of these birds and a visit to the icy 'Seventh Continent' always remained in the back of my mind. As my interest in seabirds and cetaceans grew with age, a trip to the far south became something of an obsession, but, with a growing family, increasing costs and dwindling time, was I ever actually going to make it to the haunts of these birds? My wife, Vicky, did not want to come with me; her sea legs are pretty wobbly and this was an idea from hell for her. Fortunately, old mate Philip was up for it and so ten years ago, I made the decision: I will go to Antarctica!

 

After ten years' of saving and planning, I finally had amassed the funds to make the trip. To my relief, Philip was still keen and advice from friends pointed us towards Oceanwide Expeditions, and an itinerary that included the Falklands, South Georgia and Antarctica, which would bring me to the breeding range of both my desired albatrosses and my desired regal penguin. And. you never know, going to Antarctica could give me a shot at an Emperor! 

 

This would be an 18 night epic on a relatively small boat through some of the biggest seas in the world, so my excitement of laying down our deposits for a January 2025 departure was matched only by my apprehension! 

King Penguins, South Georgia

 

The weeks and months ticked by; Christmas 2024 came and went, and suddenly, I was on a train to London to meet Philip, for our flight to Buenos Aires. It was really happening! With all my annual leave saved for this trip, I was mentally frazzled, though the adrenaline of what was about to happen prevented sleep. I had been anxious that something would befall me or my plans and thwart my attempt to fulfil this dream, but now everything seemed to be falling in to place. After a restless night, our plane landed in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, for a brief stopover. We spied Magnificent Frigatebirds, Turkey Vultures and a Whistling Heron out of the plane window, lit by the bright South American sunshine, under a brilliant blue sky. Our trip had begun!

 

 

 

Light-mantled Albatross, South Georgia

 

Shortly, we flew down to Buenos Aires, where we spent a day and a half notching up 94 species in what is surely one of the best urban nature reserves in the world, Costanera Sur. It was great to be back in the city having visited back in 2007, but sadly our time was brief, as we had to continue south, with a flight down to Ushuaia in Tierra del Fuego, at the tip of Argentina. Here we spent a fantastic three days checking out the various habitats in the deep south, along with some amazing birding. 

 

The 16th soon arrived and it was time to embark for our trip, aboard the MV Plancius. In the coming weeks I will write more posts about our trip. It surpassed all expectations and fulfilled my long held dream. I will try and contain my excitement as I relive the highlights of the trip!

 

Orca, Type B1, South Georgia 

Philip (left) and me, Weddell Sea, January 2025

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I appreciate that even a trip of a lifetime comes with a substantial impact on the environment. I have used www.sustainabletravel.org to calculate the carbon footprint of my travel and accomodation for this trip, which comes to 6.12 MT of CO2. 

I have offset this by making a donation to the World Land Trust.