Florida Keys fishermen film rare encounter with group of killer whales

A group of buddies fishing for swordfish Monday off Key Largo encountered something most probably have never and likely will never see in the waters surrounding the Florida Keys — killer whales, otherwise known as orcas.

The friends were fishing about 18 to 20 miles offshore in about 1,700 feet of water when they encountered the group, said Mike Slaughter, the boat’s owner and the man who shot the video that is making the rounds on social media.

“It was amazing and a once in a lifetime experience,” Slaughter said in an Instagram post with the video.

What made them notice the killer whales was something offshore anglers are always looking for — birds flying above the water, a tell-tale signs fish may be about.

“We were about to drop for swords and saw the birds,” Slaughter told the Miami Herald/FLKeysnews.com.

The orcas had just killed something, Slaughter said, and two of his friends got in the water with snorkeling gear to get a closer look at the large marine mammals.

“It’s coming right at you. It’s a big boy,” one of the men on the boat yelled.

“He’s looking at you! He’s looking at you,” another man said as one of the killer whales swam right up to the boat before quickly turning away.

Another friend, who stayed on the boat, joked, “Orca bait, in the water.”

The killer whales eventually went away after a few curious passes to see the humans who jumped into the ocean to meet them.

Jeremy Kiszka, a marine mammal scientist and associate biological sciences professor at Florida International University saw the video and said it appears to be at least four large female killer whales and one male.

While orcas are more abundant in cooler waters in regions like the North Pacific Ocean, Antarctica and Norway, they are found in all the world’s oceans, both offshore and nearshore, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Killer whales have been previously studied in the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico and in the Bahamas, Kiszka said.

They hunt everything from other marine mammals, smaller fish and larger pelagic species of fish like sharks, billfish and tuna.

Witnessing a group of killer whales off South Florida is “not absolutely exceptional,” Kiszka said, however he doubts many seasoned mariners in the region have ever spotted one in the wild. And, he agreed with Slaughter’s description of the encounter as “once in a lifetime.”

“They’re probably not going to see that again,” Kiszka said.