Orcas photographed enjoying NSW Far South Coast

Without a moment's hesitation, he called Jessica Millar, co-owner of Sapphire Coastal Adventures, before he grabbed his photographic equipment and drove frantically to Merimbula in anticipation.

On Monday, June 26, after leaving the marina, the six crew on board began their trip towards Merimbula Wharf, with the opportunity to see orcas in the wild for the first time.

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"To see an orca is like the holy grail of whale watching, they are the apex predators of the ocean, and [it's] very rare to see them," Mr Rogers said.

"We were kind of lucky to travel from the wharf just around to Long Point for a few hours and have a close encounter with eight killer whales."

Jessica Millar shared that the experience was amazing and truly magical.

Ms Millar described how the orcas appeared to be feeding as they moved back and forth, not in a hurry, while fur seals frolicked nearby, and seagulls and albatross would pick up remnants from the surface of the water.

Research officer at Dolphin Research Institute, David Donnelly has been studying orcas for 21 years,

"This time of the year isn't out of the realms of possibility that killer whales show up in the region, they're known to visit Merimbula and the Sapphire Coast this time of year," Mr Donnelly said.

After analysing the images captured by David Rogers, and the detailed closeups by Peter Whiter from DoubleTake Photographics, Mr Donnelly has been able to identify at least three individuals so far, but expected to identify more as further images become available.

"These animals are known from the Sapphire Coast, in particular one known as Split Fin, who is quite apparent in the photos, you can see she's got two big splits in her dorsal fin," Mr Donnelly said, sharing that Split Fin was first photographed in 2003 in Eden.

"One of the big males is known as Bent Tip, and there is another that has very distinctive trailing edge of the dorsal fin, but we don't have a name for that animal, we have a number."

Like a fingerprint on a person, the saddle, dorsal fin and eye patches allow the research team to compare those against the East Australian Catalog to look for matches or resights, adding a new record for the particular animal that's matched, or add a new animal to the catalog.

"Without that sort of contribution and involvement from the general public, which we refer to as citizen scientists, we would not be able to do the work that we do.

"We would not be able to tell the story we are telling to you today."