Crossing the Kuril Basin

A day at sea today on the MV Silver Discoverer with Nobel Caledonia, making our way eastwards from Korsakov, Russia across the Kuril Basin to Yankicha, a sunken volcanic caldera on the Pacific Ring of Fire, once visited by the indigenous Ainu people and home to their god of thunder.

Mid-morning, while birdwatching on the aft deck, a group of around 20 – 30 Orca were spotted off the port beam. The Killer Whales were in great display, spy-hopping, tail flapping and rolling on their backs as we slowed our speed. Several large males came close to the ship and the pods made a couple of passes, allowing for good photographs, before they continued on their way. My colleges and I were scanning for any sight of the rare white orcas our friends had photographed the previous summer, but unfortunatly they were not in this pod.

Photographically the light today was low, grey and bleak, so common in this part of the world, but any encounter with Orca is always a wonderful experience.