On 12/3/98 Bradford R. Crain wrote: "I ran into a friend on the ferry to Sidney, B.C. He and his buddy Fred were also vacationing in B.C. Fred told me of an orca experience that I find hard to believe. Fred said that one day they were sitting on a beach, eating their lunches. All of a sudden an orca came out of the water and landed on the shore near Fred. After looking them over, the orca reportedly slid back into the water and disappeared. My question is this: Is such a thing possible? Has anyone ever had or heard of such an experience? Fred swears it really happened." This story is similar in some respects to an incident involving the Apsley Cherry-Garard, the author of The Worst Journey on Earth, the definitive story of Scott's ill-fated Antarctic polar expedition of 1912-13(?). In the book Cherry reports that during the first summer of the expedition he was temporarily stranded on a small and fragile ice floe at the edge of the Ross Sea with a companion and some Mongolian ponies when a pod of Orcas eyeballed them first by "standing" in the water on their tails to gain elevation, then by "swimming" their upper bodies onto the ice floe, where they continued their observations at their leisure. The orcas then made what the author believed was feeding attack on the ponies by simultaneously rising up under the ice floe and smashing into it with their backs in an unsuccessful attempt to break it up. For Scott's team that sort of adventure was all in a day's work. Mike Vandamm Brookeville, Maryland USA mvandamm_at_email.usps.gov *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************
Hi Brad, The incident you described can and does indeed happen. It is not uncommon for Orca's in the Patagonian water of South American to come up on shore, as you described to grab their prey. There has only once been a report of a Orca harming a human, and that was at Sea World. I just returned from a trip to Bodo, Norway, where we were in the water with hundreds of Orca's during their feeding on herring. It was an incredible experience. The Orca's paid no attention to us during the feeding. When we were in the water with them at other times, they became very curious about us. When we would make noises thru our snokels, they would come with 10 feet of us and just look us in the eye. There are two different types of pods of Orca's, transit and resident. As many of us know they have been given the false name of Killer Whales--in fact they are not whales at all................. Just wanted to pass on my first hand experience with lists. On several days we kayaked along with them, at least when they would let us play with them. Barb *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************
Sorry I'm not up on my whales and don't know what kind these were but I have seen nature shows of whales doing similar stunts to capture those nasty seals we dislike in Canada:). -----Original Message----- From: BRADFORD R. CRAIN <brad_at_mth.pdx.edu> To: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net <paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net> Date: Wednesday, December 02, 1998 8:02 PM Subject: [Paddlewise] orca diets >............ All of a sudden an orca came out of the water and >landed on the shore near Fred. After looking them over, the orca >reportedly slid back into the water and disappeared. > My question is this: Is such a thing possible? Has anyone ever >had or heard of such an experience? Fred swears it really happened. >********************************************************************** >Bradford R. Crain E-mail: brad_at_mth.pdx.edu > *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************
Barb wrote: >There has only once been a report of a Orca harming a human, and that was at >Sea World. Here in Victoria the Oak Bay Marina used to have captive orcas. A trainer was held under water by one of the orcas and killed in the tank a few years ago. Not long after that the captive orca show was shut down and the orcas left Victoria for captivity somewhere else at great profit to humans. One was taken away a midnight. The bad old days. >in fact >they are not whales at all................. "Marine Mammals of Greater Puget Sound" (Osborne, Calambokidis, Dorsey, ed. Haley) presents orcas in Order Cetacea (whales, dolphins and porpoises), suborder Odontoceti (toothed whales). An interesting book for those who live in the area or who are contemplating visiting. Diane *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************
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