A lucky paddleboarder had a close encounter with a pod of orcas, including two extremely curious youngsters, off the Kāpiti coast yesterday.
Graeme Stevens was paddling off the coast when he spotted the pod. He lingered back to give them some space when he described two young ones coming over to “check him out”.
In the video one of the orcas swims over to Stevens before turning on its side to get a better look at him, it then shows off its tail by jumping out of the water.
When asked if he was at all scared by the encounter of orcas, which can grow to between six to eight metres, Stevens said he was just “amazed, the fear just leaves you”.
“The video doesn’t do it [their size] justice.”
Stevens had recently been saying he was “just waiting for the orcas” over his past few times on the ocean before he came across them yesterday.
He had seen them from “time to time” but this was his first opportunity with them this close.
Stevens said he’s keen to get out there again, but “fight the urge to go over” and to keep a distance from the highly intelligent creatures to give them their space.
