Most people know orcas as big, black and white performers from Sea World who swim in pods and are easily trainable and people-friendly like dolphins. However, they have the popular nickname of “Killer Whales” for a reason. In the wild, orcas are hunters that can easily flip over seals and small boats and swim at up to speeds of 30 miles an hour.
So when two fishermen out on the waters near San Diego Bay came across what they believed to be a pod of at least 30 orcas, they made the smart decision to high-tail it out of there and back to shore as fast as their speed boat could take them.
But it wasn't fast enough as some of the orcas were able to catch up to them and jump alongside the little boat, giving the fishermen real fright. The giant mammals could have easily flipped over their speedboat but luckily, the two were able to make it back to land safely.
It is unclear if the orcas were indeed attacking the fishermen's speedboat, if they were simply encouraging them to get out of their territory or if they were simply just playing around as dolphins are often known to do when there are boats in the open water. At some points during the video, you can hear the cameraman's concern that one of the animal will “bite his arm off” if he tried to film how close the creature was swimming next to them from underwater.
At several times during the video as well, the fishermen show concern as they exclaim that even though at top speed, the orcas are still “right under them” and able to keep up.
A video of their orca chase was uploaded onto YouTube and shows the powerful orcas just feet away from the stern of their boat. Although killer whales very rarely attack humans, the sight of them giving the two fishermen chase is enough to make anybody worry for their safety in the turf of these incredibly intelligent sea mammals.
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