Orca pod's surprise visit to Otago harbour

There are few things that make Rachel McGregor literally jump out of bed on a Saturday morning.

But an early morning text from the Otago harbourmaster, telling her there was a pod of orca swimming in the harbour near Port Chalmers, was one of those.

The Port to Port ferry service and wildlife tour operator and owner said it was one of those "once in a lifetime opportunities" she could not sleep through.

"We got a text message saying that orcas had been spotted near the islands at Back Beach.

"So I jumped out of bed and immediately rang some people that are special to me, and we took the boat out for a look."

She said there were two large males and about half a dozen females in the pod.

An orca pops up near Rachel McGregor's Port to Port ferry in Otago Harbour on Saturday morning. Photo / Supplied

Making the sighting even more special, one of those males was Koru, an orca who was rescued by the Orca Research Trust after he became stranded in Kaipara Harbour seven years ago.

His presumed mother Nicky, whom he was spotted with an hour after the 2013 rescue, was also believed to be among the pod in the Otago Harbour.

"It was amazing," McGregor said.

"We spent over an hour just watching them from a distance, and then all of a sudden they popped up right under the boat.

"You could hear them breathing. Luckily, we couldn't smell their breath — that would have been a little bit rank."

McGregor said she had been on the harbour for about 17 years and had never seen a pod of orca that far down the harbour.

"They were in the shallows. We were wondering if they were looking for food. They were moving very, very slowly."

The pod headed for the open sea again about 11am, but provided one last surprise at Aramoana before they left.

"They were right up against the sand spit at Aramoana.

"The people that were standing there got a hell of a fright when they popped up a few metres away."