Boater off Cape Cod: ‘Woah, it’s a killer whale, baby!’
Warning: Video contains explicit language.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WwcvpeetkE
Forget the tuna fish — a group who set out with hopes of catching some near Cape Cod were much more excited to see a pod of killer whales alongside their boat Tuesday afternoon.
“Woah, it’s a killer whale, baby!” one of them shouted.
“Dude, I don’t even care about the tunas anymore, this is amazing,” said another.
A group of boaters (Capt. Justin Daly, Alex Wyckoff, Matt Ward, and Mark Ward on the Fish Box out of Pleasant Bay, who fish together as the name Big Dog Sport Fishing) reported the sighting, which occurred about 12 miles off Chatham, to the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy (AWSC).
When they first saw the whales a couple hundred yards away from the boat, they thought they were humpback whales, which are more common for the area, Matt Ward told Boston.com.
“All four of us are pretty avid fisherman, so we’re all pretty familiar with those waters,” he said. “I don’t think anyone has seen killer whales there in a very long time.”
While they couldn’t pinpoint the exact number of killer whales in the pod, they told the AWSC there were at least four, one of which was significantly larger than the others, and one very small whale that appeared to be a baby.
“These whales were not boat shy whatsoever, as you can see in the video,” they told AWSC. “We continued trolling and they swam next to the boat several times.”
Killer whale sightings in the area are rare, but not unheard of. Earlier this summer, a whale who is over 25-feet-long and goes by “Old Thom,” was spotted off Cape Cod.
A Capeshores captain and Cape Cod native told Boston.com it was only the second time he’d seen a killer whale in his life, and the first time was in California.
“We had heard about the sighting that occurred earlier this summer,” Ward said. “We were just so amazed, it was pretty cool.”
The pod of whales seen Thursday moved along with the boat for about 15 minutes, according to the post. One breeched just about 40 feet from the boat’s bow.
“This is our best day ever!” one of the boaters exclaimed.
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