Special Visitors Today

Today there were some special guests just outside our Island Bay Marine Education Centre. A family of up to 10 orca delighted onlookers when they were spotted frolicking and feeding on a sublimely sunny Wellington afternoon.

Alannah Mclean had been with her partner, who was surfing at Houghton Bay on the capital's south coast on Friday, when the couple spotted the pod and followed them to Island Bay before the orca made their way out of sight at Owhiro Bay.

Mclean said her partner had been quite glad to get out of the water before the visitors got to Houghton Bay. 

"It was a mum, dad and children and they seemed to be in a feeding frenzy, splashing around ... it was a pretty cool experience, they were about a metre away when they came near shore - it was pretty cool," Mclean said.

Despite being known by the public as Killer Whales, Orca are actually the largest members of the dolphin family.