Eden is known globally for its fascination for a regular migrant population of whales and the killer whale sighting has excited scientists and enthusiasts in Eden and abroad.
Spy hop: One of the smallest killer whales from a huge pod which passed Eden on Friday.
On Friday afternoon there were quick reactions by whale enthusiasts Ros and Gordan Butt and the few locals who were lucky enough to be close by, as they leapt aboard the Cat Balou for the chase.
Eden resident Nick Haenig had his camera aboard and captured some special moments during the 45 minute cruise, providing the area with the first shots of killer whales taken for some time.
Whale spotter and retired fish spotter Maurie Egan was at the Eden Killer Whale Museum when he heard about the pod and was ecstatic about its arrival, as the wild orca was something he'd never seen before.
"A game fishing boat called the Coastal Patrol who phoned us," said Mrs Butt on Monday.
"The game fishing boat had seen them in North Bay but it turned out to be two miles outside the bay by the time we caught them.
"We reckon there were between 25 and 30 in the pod, and about six males with the big dorsal fins, one very small baby and the rest we presume were females or juveniles," she said.
The pod was heading south after being spotted off Merimbula earlier in the day.
"They were mainly just swimming, then they'd split into three different groups before joining up again, and at times the males were all hanging together," Mrs Butt said.
"It was amazing.
"Our last sighting was Melbourne Cup day 12 months ago, only the eighth time we've seen them in 21 years."
Whale researcher Dave Donnelly of Melbourne will use some of Mr Haenig's photographs to expand his whale database and will pick them up while in Eden for the launch of the Sapphire Coast Marine Discovery Centre's See our Seas documentary night on Saturday (see Page 8).
The pod had been cruising the Far South Coast with a report that a killer whale was sighted in Mallacoota on Thursday.
A Mallacoota tourist who visited Eden on Friday asked the boys at Fish, Dive, Camp about what she saw.
"A lady from Mallacoota asked us what had a long, fin this high," Michael Mashado said on Monday, indicating the height of his shoulder.
"She had been fishing in a boat off Mallacoota and thought it might have been a sunfish."
The boys saw a small, fast moving pod of killer whales on February 28 this year and also were privy to sperm whales breaching the week before the March fishing competition.
Source: Magnet
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