Galapagos Orca Encounter

Ron Watkins · Issue 100, Jan/Feb 2018 · pp. 78–81

As I sat poised on the edge of the small inflatable panga anxiously waiting to slip into the ocean, one of my buddies Albert nervously asked, “Is it safe to go in the water with them?” This was the first time I consciously thought about the safety of entering the waters of Darwin Island in the Galapagos with these apex predators, or killer whales (Orcinus orca). I wasn’t sure exactly how to respond to Albert and the others looking at me for affirmation. Up to this point, we had been cruising around in the pangas watching the orcas from a distance swim near the island and out around the fifty-one foot tall lava structure known as Darwin’s Arch. Then the transient pod of one male, three females and one calf took an interest in us and came in for a closer look. The orcas swam directly under the panga, surfacing within arms’ reach and then slowly circled the small boat. Next to our amazement…