Killer whales off Waikiki ?

[VBlueV]

so.. first dive out of the shoot for a while..
did a double at the YO.

first dive right off the bat.. saw 4 eagle rays in formation circling between the wrecks..
as i worked my way along the port side of the YO.. a good sized white tip reef shark cruised right in front of me.
then as i approached a mid-ship hold.. a giant 5 foot trevally lumbered out.. must've been a couple hundred pounds.

during the surface interval.. i heard a blowhole.. but wondered.. "it's too early for humpbacks?".. but saw what appeared to be a baby.
but as it got closer.. the dorsal fin was too tall.. vertical.. but kind of flopped over..

too big and too black to be a dolphin?

eventually saw the small pod of three to four of 'em.. as they came up to breathe..
but never caught a glimpse of any white stripes?

anyone else ever see any killer whales in hawaii?

 

[Teamcasa]

See this:
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/hawaii-ohana/257892-beached-killer-whale-poipu.html

 

[Thalassamania]

Maybe Pseudorca crassidens, they do not have white stripes, but there are Orcas in Hawaii.

 

[kidspot]

Sightings infrequently occur off of Lana'i as well - we did observe a pod of False Killer whales about 8 months ago - they swam right under our boat, but they appeared to be more like big dolphins, and their dorsal fin did not remind me of an Orca's dorsal fin.

Too bad you didn't get any pictures, but what a great day for animals - Rays, giant Ulua AND Orca!

Aloha, Tim

 

[bcyber]

JJ aka Blue you have been out of the water waaaayyyy to long. You must be seeing things...you know how the imagination plays tricks on you after being in the desert toooooo long! You also know...no pics...no proof

Remember that time near turtle canyon off of Waikiki when we seen what you thought was a whale? Come to find out it was a monk seal...huh? huh?

 

[VBlueV]

yeah.. sorry no pics.. for my first dives after six months.. i thought i should keep my hands free for any buffoonery caused by cob webs

but i was kickin' myself for not bringing the camera.. you'd think i'd learned my lesson by now.

however it was actually a good thing i didn't have it.. i had my hands full with the kickin' current..
especially on the second dive.. fightin' my way to the san pedro and back (w/o ending up at lanai)..

i did have some flawed logic tho'.. when i first saw the tall dorsal.. i was thinkin'.. "is it a big shark on the surface? (concerned if i needed to call the second dive)..
but then i heard and saw the blowhole i said, "whew".. "it's probably just a killer whale".. "i guess it's safe to do the second dive after all"..

NOT!..
on the cruise back to the marina, i realized/remembered hearing/reading somewhere.. that killer whales are actually more dangerous to us than sharks.. DOH!
after all.. they attack giant whales.. durr.

 

[Thalassamania]

yeah.. sorry no pics.. for my first dives after six months.. i thought i should keep my hands free for any buffoonery caused by cob webs

but i was kickin' myself for not bringing the camera.. you'd think i'd learned my lesson by now.

however it was actually a good thing i didn't have it.. i had my hands full with the kickin' current..
especially on the second dive.. fightin' my way to the san pedro and back (w/o ending up at lanai)..

i did have some flawed logic tho'.. when i first saw the tall dorsal.. i was thinkin'.. "is it a big shark on the surface? (concerned if i needed to call the second dive)..
but then i heard and saw the blowhole i said, "whew".. "it's probably just a killer whale".. "i guess it's safe to do the second dive after all"..

NOT!..
on the cruise back to the marina, i realized/remembered hearing/reading somewhere.. that killer whales are actually more dangerous to us than sharks.. DOH!
after all.. they attack giant whales.. durr.

Orcas, while they have the clear potential to do great damage, they do no appear to do so in the wild. There have been a number of incidents with captive Orcas, which I as a former Orca trainer, would chalk up to the stress of forcing the animals to perform to a script as opposed to just displaying their behaviors in a more free form fashion.

As far as sharks are concerned, more people are killed by elephants each year, and many more are killed by bees. Learn to enjoy them.

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

I've never heard of orca being a problem for humans. With our media today, if orca attacks were happening they would be all over the front page and internet.

Wikipedia only list trainers being attacked by captive orca. By the way, I'm pretty sure only the nomad pods eat marine mammals; the resident pods of Washington/British Colombia only eat fish (mostly salmon).

edit; Thal beat me to it

 

[VBlueV]

hey bcyber.. yes, these were the real deal..
one of 'em surfaced just 10 feet starboard..
and a couple others 50 yards off the bow..
large wide dark craniums.. with a definite curl to the side at the top of a tall vertical dorsal..

as for being wary of killer whales.. i suppose i've seen too many shots of their continuous row of large round bullet shaped teeth!
plus, i thought i did see a discovery channel highlight show of orca attacks.. (much like shark week).

 

[lonniehammack]

JJ - Welcome back! You always have the most amazing sightings. We were just at the YO a couple of weeks ago and didn't even see a shark or ray. I'll have to go with Dave's mirage theory. It was probably a school of chub skimming the surface. Lonnie