Yet another ‘interaction’ with a juvenile pod of orca has left a sailing boat adrift off the Portuguese coast. This latest incident – coming as a new acoustic device is due to be tested to try and deter these attacks – took place on Sunday 2.8 kms off Culatra island, near Faro. Skipper Bertrand d’Enquin told reporters: “The attack lasted almost 50 minutes. Six orca battered our hull several times… the boat was stationary” and in relatively shallow waters, he added (both situations that generally should be ‘safer’ from these interactions). But the large mammals managed to destroy the rudder, requiring the 15-metre long catamaran to be towed to Culatra port for what will undoubtedly be costly repairs.
