This is an account of the precautions we took to avoid interactions as we left the Mediterranean through the Strait of Gibraltar for Rabat and Lanzarote in summer 2024. It’s not intended as a full guide to “Orca Alley”, and other sources are listed at the end for reference.
Spoiler alert – we saw no orcas on our voyage - but our preparation and experiences may help others to have an uneventful passage. So far, orcas have not caused serious injury to crew members, but boats have been damaged and sunk, and as an acquaintance of ours had the rudder of his boat damaged off Tarifa a few days before we left Almerimar at the start of our westward journey, we took the risk of damage to the boat very seriously.
Antifouling
Our preparations started in 2022. When we bought Kadash, our 40’ aluminium lift keeler, she had navy blue antifouling paint. The limited data then available suggested that in absolute terms there were more attacks involving boats with dark anti-fouling. However, it was not possible to deduce from this data whether a boat with dark antifouling was more likely to be attacked as we did not know what proportion of the general population of boats had dark antifouling. To remedy this, we surveyed the boats ashore at Port Napoleon, a large dry storage facility in the south of France, and noted their bottom colour. We concluded that a large majority of boats had dark antifouling, and based on this data, we concluded statistically it was likely that a light colour might be better. We changed to light blue antifouling by adding white paint the blue base, in our opinion also improving the boat’s aesthetics.
Route
Given that the best strategy of dealing with orca interactions is to avoid them altogether, we planned our trip through Orca Alley – the Strait of Gibraltar and its approaches – with some care. From our starting point of Almerimar in southern Spain, we had a choice of passing through the Strait on either its northern or southern side. We consulted the GT Orca Atlantica (GT Orcas App) whose traffic light system showed red for Tarifa on the northern shore of the Strait, with reports of interactions, and decided to coast inshore along the Moroccan shoreline, a route which would also enable us to avoid the worst of the Strait’s currents and shipping traffic.
In July 2024 we departed Almerimar to commence our trip into the Atlantic. We coasted along to Marina del Este near Almuñécar, and then headed south west across the Alboran Sea towards a point about 20 miles east of Ceuta on the African mainland, where no orca interactions had been reported. Although there were enormous numbers of dolphins in the Alboran Sea, which is made fertile by the upwelling of cold Atlantic water, we saw no orcas. A fuller report of this and our encounters with shipping in the fog as we approached Ceuta can be read in an earlier blog – Kim’s Cruise 2024, Part 1 – Andalusia to Morocco.
From Ceuta westwards, our plan was to make for Tangier, staying close to the African shore. Orca interactions are less likely close to the shore, and we decided that if we encountered orcas we would motor at full speed into still sallower water. Running before a strong Levanter, Kadash made short work of the passage to Tanger Med marina. We saw no orcas, and with the poor visibility, neither did we sight Gibraltar. Fewer yachts take this southern route through the Strait, and the lack of reported interactions could reflect this, so we were on our guard.
After a short stay in Tangier we again stayed close to the African coast to round Cape Spartel and make passage south to Rabat. The stays at Tanger Bay Marina, and especially Rabat were highlights of the trip.
Tactics for Coping with Orca Interactions
It appears from most accounts that the first the crew know of an interaction is when an orca makes physical contact with the boat. We realised we should assume no prior notice of an attack and be ready to react immediately. Before leaving Spain we discussed with the crew (four in total) the actions we would take in the event of an interaction, and assigned tasks to individuals. Emergency contact numbers were displayed in the cabin.
Noise
There is debate as to whether loud noise deters orcas. There are reports of yachts playing loud music, banging a loud metal pole hung over the side and hitting pots and pans. We decided to exploit our boat’s aluminium hull, and carried a Kango type percussive drill fitted with a special tip made by cutting the end off an SDS+ bit and attaching a bored out piece of aluminium bar. This certainly made an impressive noise when held against the bottom plates of the boat, and although we were unable to test its effectiveness on orcas, when we tried it out briefly in the Marina at Puerto del Este all the fish swimming around the boat disappeared at top speed.
Sand
Orcas use echolocation, and reports show that sand did influence the orcas’ behaviour but its use by sailors has been limited. From the reports it appears that pouring sand over the side from a bucket during an orca interaction is easier said than done, and sand poured into the water disperses quickly. We realised that our plan of motoring flat out to shallower water meant sand might of limited use when the boat was moving quickly, but we thought that it might be of use in the first few minutes of an interaction before we got up speed. To ensure the sand could be deployed without the need to lean over the side or rear of the boat we filled paper sacks with dried building sand. We sun dried the contents of a 25 kg bag and placed it in paper bags stored in larger plastic bin bags in a cockpit cubbyhole. We also had a bowl ready into which the sand could be decanted and then thrown over the side, in case the paper bags started to split. We tested this system when we were in Lanzarote, and considered that if the boat was stationary this method of deploying sand would result in a screen around the rudders for a few minutes.
Firecrackers
Firecrackers, “petardos” in Spanish, are reportedly used by Spanish fishermen to deter dolphins and orcas. Smaller petardos are used to deter dolphins which are said to raid fishermen’s long lines, and larger petardos are carried to deter orcas. At Berja, north of Almerimar, there is a factory where petardos are manufactured. We saw and heard petardos used in Almerimar during fetes celebrations such as the finals of EURO 2024.
Orca Spikes
A novel approach we adopted was to install “orca spikes” on our rudders. These were manufactured from aluminium, with a circular plate supporting a 25 mm long pin with a rounded end – not a sharp spike - but we hoped it might be enough to deter the orca from head butting the rudder. They were glued onto the rudders. We admit there has been some scepticism about the orca spikes, with some commenting that they should have been longer and sharper, while some were of the opinion that they might only encourage the orcas to use the spikes for scratching against.
Conclusion
We did not need to deploy our precautions, but hope this account of our approach may be useful.
References
CA The Cruising Association is doing an excellent job compiling information, advice and additional resources. Their website is an excellent point of reference.
Dealing with orca attacks and how to navigate ‘Orca Alley’ - Yachting Monthly A comprehensive account of orca incidents by James Kenning appeared in Yachting Monthly on 7 August 2023
www.orcaiberica.org the web site of the Grupo Trabajo Orca Atlantic GTO – Spanish and Portuguese scientists whose App GT Orca includes the Traffic Light Risk Map.
(1) Orca Attack Reports | Facebook Facebook group where information on incidents and suggestions on ways to prevent interactions and damage are exchanged, including the following:
Scott Hughes – innovate idea for a steel pipe with holes dropped over the stern near the rudder, fitted to a compressor, blasting air bubbles?
Killer Whale Attacks Boat Protection Pierre Land looking at pingers as a deterrent.
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