The crew onboard a fishing charter boat captured amazing video of a pod of orca whales frolicking in the vessel's wake off the San Diego coast, near the Coronado Islands, Saturday morning.
Capt. Ryan Sweeney, who was leading the Brink Expeditions spearfishing charter, said his boat was about eight miles off the Islands, in Mexican waters, when they encountered the whales.
"We spent about one and a half hours with them as they played around the boat," Sweeney told NBC 7. "All of us on board were blown away by how curious and inquisitive they were. We even saw the biggest one munching on a sea lion carcass about 40 yards away from the boat. Then they proceeded to play in our wake, doing barrel rolls and surfing the wake."
Sweeney said there were about five or six orcas in the pod. He wrote in an Instagram post that all of the customers on the boat recorded video of the playful orcas and hopes to compile all of the footage into one video.
"It was really an incredible interaction that very few are lucky enough to experience in Southern California waters. It is rare that they come that close to our coast during their migration. Once in a lifetime," Sweeney added.
