Orca in search of lunch in the Gerlach Strait

To catch a glimpse of these apex predators of the oceans in their natural habitat is a lucky thing. We were at anchor on the Antarctic Peninsula and then all of a sudden a small pod of 4 orca that appeared behind our vessel, quickly swam past and continued through the ice floes in search of a tasty, blubbery seal for lunch. Their speed of searching and moving through the thick ice was beyond impressive with each breathe sticking their heads well above the ice to have a quick look to see if anything was resting on top before moving on to another ice floe a few meters further along.

This was the best photo I could get due to their speed, even though at this point they were quite easily close to a mile away from the ship and shortly after I took this photo they simply disappeared into the Gerlach Strait. A short but amazing encounter, as usual when it comes to these apex predators of the oceans.