Orca proved to be the best (and most unexpected) birthday present Amy Begg had ever received.
She was visiting Back Beach, at Port Chalmers, with her son yesterday, when they spotted a pod of orca out in Otago Harbour.
At the same time, Port to Port Cruises and Wildlife Tours owner Rachel McGregor was doing some maintenance on her boat when she received a call from one of her colleagues about 10.30am, saying there were orca in the harbour.
So she took her boat down to the boat ramp at Back Beach with some friends to go and have a look.
"It was a bit of a spontaneous trip.
"I had the boat down there within 15 minutes, and when I arrived, my colleague had brought three other people with her and there were two people in the carpark asking if they could come too."
Moments later, they were all out on the harbour, getting up-close views of what appeared to be a large orca and a smaller one.
Mrs Begg said she had never seen an orca before.
"So it was an amazing experience.
"Everyone on the boat was buzzing.
"They are my favourite animal, and to see them up close was incredible.
"I got to share it with my youngest son Ben, who is 8, and he will be very excited to share the news at school.
"It’s actually my birthday today, so it made for one of the best birthdays ever."
The orca pod travelled between Port Chalmers and Aramoana, delighting dozens of onlookers along the way.
Ms McGregor said it looked like the big male and possibly a calf or a very small female that were spotted in the harbour last week.
"I can’t believe they showed up again so soon."
She said the orca spent several hours swimming out past Aramoana to the harbour mouth.
"It was a fantastic sight."
She said orca were known for returning to sites they knew, and it was highly possible they would return again some time soon.
