This Is Our Favorite Wild Orca Video Yet

Typically when people capture video footage of a wild orca encounter, the conditions are less than ideal.

Either subpar video equipment, loud surroundings, a bouncing cameraman, too much distance or cloudy water usually contribute to a video that while still awe-inspring, is lacking the crispness of something staged.

But the wait is over.

A pod of wild killer whales surrounded a group of people in an inflatable boat off the coast of California.

Although the people in the boat were alarmed and one of the crew is heard yelling, “We got to go, they’re under our boat,” experts say they should NOT have started the boat engine. The unexpected revving sound might result in an orca injury or scaring the orca enough that they may capsize the boat.

The person who filmed the video, who has worked on the Southern California Killer Whale project since 1984, later wrote online:

These wild Orcas that I have known for many years now came over to my 10-foot inflatable maybe just to say hello.”

These amazingly sophisticated predators’ stark curiosity is quite endearing to see on film, and experts say that the orcas were “skyhopping” or checking out the scenery above the surface. It’s generally advisable to let the animals control the nature and duration of interaction.

Considering how up-close-and-personal these killer whales got with the humans in a tiny raft, one thing is clearer than the ocean water in the footage: those people got very lucky.

Read more on experts’ observations about this footage from our source, BT.com.