Orcas chase fisherman off of Baja California coast



SAN DIEGO – Four San Diego fishermen got the show of a lifetime over the weekend when they were fishing in Mexican waters south of the Coronado Islands.

Tyler Bartholomew was celebrating his 40th birthday with his friends by trolling for tuna. The group had launched early from Coronado and spent the morning fishing in Mexican waters. They caught several skipjack and a couple of yellowfin tuna, but overall the fishing was disappointing, Bartholomew said.

Around 2 p.m., things got a lot more exciting.

“We initially spotted the orcas off in the distance and started filming,” Bartholomew told KSWB.  “The orcas followed us for about five minutes and started to trail away.  A few minutes later, we noticed a huge pod of dolphins swimming, and it appeared that the orcas were chasing them.  Eventually, the pod of dolphins scattered and swam away, but the orcas stayed in the area and we witnessed them tossing a baby dolphin around.  There appeared to be at least four or five orcas including a juvenile.”

The fishing wasn’t great, but the chance encounter with the killer whales made up for it, Bartholomew said.

"This completely made the day for us, as you can imagine!” he said.

If you listen to the exclamations of amazement from the four men on the video, you don’t have to imagine.