Some lucky whale watchers were treated to a once-in-a-lifetime spectacle — courtesy of Mother Nature — off the Palos Verdes coast on Tuesday, Jan. 2.
A pod of Eastern Tropical Pacific orca whales, otherwise known as killer whales, made a surprise appearance off Point Vincente — where onlookers watched as a few orcas hunted a southbound gray whale.
It was an incredibly rare sighting, according to Sarah Lesser, the Aquarium of the Pacific’s whale watch naturalist program supervisor.
In fact, the occurrence marked just the second time that orcas have been seen hunting a southbound gray whale in the last 40 years, Lesser said in a Wednesday interview.
The last time an orca was spotted hunting a southbound gray was in 2012.
But it isn’t the first time orcas have been spotted on the Southern California coast in recent weeks. Tuesday’s sighting was the seventh observed by Long Beach-based whale watching company Harbor Breeze Cruises since just Dec. 11.
“Orcas are always a rare sight wherever you see them, even in like places that they’re common,” said Capt. Tyler Askari of Harbor Breeze Cruises on Wednesday. “Here in Southern California, it’s super rare for us because they come through maybe once a year (or) every two years — it’s definitely a special treat.”
The same pod of Eastern Tropical Pacific Orcas have been making their way up and down the California coast — from Palos Verdes to Newport to San Diego — over the past few weeks. There are ten whales in total, including two calves.
Askari and Harbor Breeze Cruises have been lucky enough to observe the orcas six times since Dec. 11, and when they got the call that the pod was once again spotted on Tuesday — they immediately went out looking for them.
By 3 p.m., with dozens aboard their vessel, the crew and whale watchers alike made it to Point Vicente just in time to watch as the orcas engaged in a thirty minute battle with the gray whale and its own baby.
Gray whales,…
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