OFF KEY LARGO, Fla. – Fishermen in the Florida Keys just had a once-in-a-lifetime encounter.
Mike Slaughter says he was out with a couple of friends on Saturday when they came across a group of Orcas.
Slaughter said they were about 20 miles off Key Largo in the Florida Straits when the very playful Killer whales came right up to their boat.
A few of them even got in the water to take a closer look at them.
Capt. Bill Chrisman of No Regrets Sport Fishing shared the incredible video on social media.
Chrisman says he has seen Sperm whales and Pilot whales, but has never seen an Orca in the more than 20 years that he has been fishing off the Florida Keys.
Chrisman says he knows a boat captain who once saw an Orca off the Cay Sal Bank in the Bahamas 40 to 50 years ago.
The Orca is the largest member of the oceanic dolphin family.
There are 50,000 Orcas worldwide.
They are most commonly found in the south near Antarctica and in the north between California and Alaska.
Marine Scientist Kirk Linaje believes these were Caribbean Orcas, a subset of Orcas that reside in the southeastern Caribbean and Lesser Antilles.
Linaje believes that recent warmer waters have affected the normal feeding patterns of these Orcas, forcing them to forage for food in waters further north than they are used to hunting.