Anzac Day brought a few Napier residents closer to the natural world with the appearance of several orcas at East Pier, Ahuriri.
Department of Conservation staff, who popped down on their day off to see the marine mammals, estimated about eight orcas came close to the shoreline for feeding.
"There was definitely
one adult male, which was fully grown, and one fully grown female and a number of smaller ones, so it was possible they were travelling in a family pod," DoC biodiversity programme manager Brian Welch said.
The orcas came close to the shoreline and DoC staff believed they had been hunting stingrays.
"It looks quite spectacular when they come in that close - almost like they'll beach themselves," Mr Welch said.
Napier resident Christine Robinson had been walking her dog along the East Pier shoreline at the time.
"I looked out and saw a fin and thought, 'Gosh, that looks like an orca' - I was absolutely amazed," she said.
"I think they were feeding because I saw one throw a stingray up in the air."
DoC staff said they had been pleased with people's behaviour, especially those in boats who had kept a safe distance from the animals.
Several witnesses saw a dog swim out towards the pod while others have said one man attempted to swim with them.
"There's never been a recorded case of orcas attacking someone in the wild," Mr Welch said.
"I was keeping an eye on the dog to see if anything would happen but they weren't interested at all."
DoC staff said orcas came into the Napier shore once or twice a year so witnesses had been quite lucky to catch them.
