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Big pods of killer whales sighted off Newport Beach
March 23rd, 2008, 6:31 pm · 12 Comments · posted by Gary Robbins, science writer-editor
Sportfishing and whale-watching boats sighted one of the largest gatherings of killer whales seen off Orange County in recent years, encountering about 30 orcas 6.5 miles off Newport Beach around 4 p.m.
“I would never have imagined that I’d see something like this,” said Cathy Lesnick of Fountain Valley, who was traveling on the sportfishing boat Freelance out of Davey’s Locker. “Some of the orcas swam right under the boat. I almost fell overboard trying to take a photograph.” (Cathy took these images.)
Said Christopher Young, a visiting NASA contractor from Pearland, Texas: “This was phenomenal. There was about a half dozen pods, with about five whales in each pod. I’ve painted pictures of whales and dolphins for years, but I’ve never seen an orca up close.”
Norris Tapp, veteran skipper of the Freelance, said: “I’ve seen orcas before, but never this many at one time. Some of the whales were flapping their tails against the surface of the water. They were only about 10 feet away.”
Tapp says that a large finwhale was also seen in the same area at about the same time the orcas appeared.
Orcas inhabit Southern California waters, but they are rarely seen in large numbers, and it’s even more unusual for them to come close to boats. The whales seen today might be the same animals seen nine days ago off the Palos Verdes Peninsula.
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“I almost fell overboard trying to take a photographer.” That quote is so funny.
I didn’t realize you could see orcas off the so CA coast. I have only seen gray whales when I have been whale watching.
3 years ago…there were also several pods of Orca’s within 2 miles off the Coast At that time I would estimate at least 50 to 60 travelling towards Mexico. Mother’s and their babies came up right next to our boat. It was the most magical scene I have ever seen. I will never forget that.
Hi Gary,
I met you on the Westerpride the day you reported on theSculpin article.
I was on the Freelance yesterday with Art and around 20 other people. It was around 4:30 PM as we were returning, Norris received a message from a small craft returning from Catalina saying there were numerous Orca pods near Newport. We located and watched, followed the Pods for more than an hour. The Orcas were so closed to the boat that we were able to see the white underbelly close to the boat even without them surfacing for air. It was an incredible sight. As the sun dipped over the horizon, we headed home and got to the dock at 6:30 PM.
The Nautilus was on their late afternoon whale watch and were running adjacent the Freelance. They followed the Pods for around 15 minutes and were long gone when we headed to the dock.
ScienceDude - Killer whales aren’t whales, are they? Thought they belonged in the dolphin family. They are called killer whales because they kill whales — which makes perfect sense that they would show up about the same time as a finwhale.
From Sciencedude: Yes, killer whales are part of the larger dolphin family.
Amazing sighting. On March 23, 2001 I saw the Offshore Pod of Orcas, as this appears to be, and there was a fin whale with them then! Did anyone photograph their large male “CA507″ as I did that day and again on 2/14/2005?
FYI: I narrated all three trips on Saturday and rested Sunday..darn the luck.
T.Nichols
VP of Orange County Chapter of American Cetacean Society
So?
I’m a boat charter captain out of Dana Point, and all of us boat charter skippers could not understand why there were hardly any whale sightings in March. I heard one skipper suggest Orcas, but everyone else dismissed that idea, saying they’ve never seen any. Well… guess that skipper nailed it. Grey whale’s only predator is Orcas, who paticularly go after the newborn calfs heading back up with mom from Mexico. At least I have an excuse to give my passengers now.
New to the area…I’m wondering if they hang around or do they keep swimming to their destination? I would love to get a chance to see them this weekend…if there is a chance that they’re still around.
Re: Killer Whales scared away the Grays. NOT!
This type of Orca does not eat warm blooded prey. Only the Transient type would prey on Gray Whales. They travel in small pods, 3 is optimum. The 2 times I have seen this Offshore Pod, there were Gray Whales seen within miles. The Fin Whale seemingly “held captive” by the Orcas in 2001 was un-harmed. Another obvious sign that this was the Offshore Pod is the tail-slapping: this is concussion feeding. The whale slaps his tail downward to create confusion among the school of FISH that it is eating. The third type, Residents, also practices concussion feeding.
I am not guessing. These are well known facts. We ACS/OC had a speaker discuss this very subject last August.
Tony Nichols
[...] in and out of the water around and under the boat. For a full report with tons of photos, check out Sciencedude’s blog. The whale watching season had a lackluster start this year, with a late migration of gray whales [...]