April 17, 2014 — Acting on whispers that a pod of orcas had entered Monterey Bay on Monday, Peggy West-Stap and a research assistant set sail out of Moss Landing Harbor in Sweetpea, a research vessel belonging to the nonprofit Marine Life Studies. What happened next was an extraordinary encounter with killer whales. West-Stap, the founder and research director at MLS, heard a report Monday morning of orcas entering the bay. She contacted Hayley Newell, a research assistant with MLS, and the pair met up at the harbor and headed out about 1:30 p.m.
The first clue came a mile out in about 125 feet of water when they spotted seagulls in a frenzy and set a course toward them.
“That’s when we spotted the dorsal fins and came across the orcas feeding,” West-Stap said. “Earlier in the day they must have killed a gray whale calf.”
Male orcas have highly distinguishable dorsal fins that can grow to 6 feet. The pod comprised “transient” orcas, named that because they roam the western seaboard hunting marine mammals such as seals and California sea lions. “Resident” orcas live in the bays and inlets of Washington state, British Columbia and Alaska and feed primarily on salmon and other fish.