As we left Port Lockroy, the wind grew. We had lunch while the gale battered the ship, ploughing through the Gerlache Strait towards the hopeful calm of Paradise Bay. Just as we’d settled down for a much needed nap, the call came over the P.A. system that there were Killer Whales alongside. 

I wasn’t dressed properly for the howling winds, but I didn’t really mind. Camera in hand, I wedged myself on to the railings at the bow and hoped my beanie was tight enough to resist the winds. A pod of Gerlach Strait (Type B) Killer Whales powered through the strait beside us, sleek against the rough waters. There must have been around ten of them, and one tiny little baby swimming alongside mum. I say tiny, but a baby whale is still a whale, and it probably had a good 100kg on me!

Killer whales aren’t actually whales, they’re dolphins. “Killer dolphin” sounds infinitely more sinister than “Killer whale”, although the latter is somewhat more impressive. Gerlache Strait Killer Whales look yellow due to a buildup of diatoms (micro-organisms) on their skins. In the cold Antarctic waters they may not have the energy to spare to constantly slough off and regenerate their skins as others do. They’ve been satellite tracked undertaking rapid migrations to subtropical seas and back, where they probably shed their skin and the diatoms with it. 

There are five types of Killer Whale in Antarctica, Types A to D, with two subtypes of B. Gerlache Strait Killer Whales are the smaller of the Type B group, but still very impressive!

Reference:

Durban, J. W., & Pitman, R. L. (2011). Antarctic killer whales make rapid, round-trip movements to subtropical waters: evidence for physiological maintenance migrations?. Biology Letters, rsbl20110875.