WAIKIKI (KHON) — A rare encounter was caught on camera off the Big Island when two massive killer whales — also known as orcas — swam right up to a local fisherman’s boat.

It started as a regular fishing trip about seven miles south of Kona on July 15 until a pod of orcas appeared in the distance. Two of them swam right up to Dalton Umayam’s boat.

“It was kind of scary, just cause how large they were and we were only on a 16-foot boat. It was, yeah, I was a bit nervous,” Umayam said.

“How big did they look, if your boat is 16 feet?” affiliate KHON asked. “They looked over 20 feet, maybe around 22 feet long, maybe more,” the fisherman said.

The Pacific Whale Foundation said orcas are known to live in more frigid conditions, but their behavior itself is not surprising.

“I would say that’s very typical behavior of marine mammals or whales in pods where you have the main group that’s traveling or have some sort of mission, you know, they’re hunting, they’re traveling, they’re socializing and then you have a few curious individuals that might stray a little bit further,” said PWF chief scientist Jens Currie.

Experts said this type of sighting is very rare in Hawaiʻi, but their nickname of “killer whales” is a bit misleading — at least for humans.

“The term ‘killer whale’ came from the whalers who saw them killing whales and that’s why they call them killer whales,” said Waikiki Aquarium director Dr. Andrew Rossiter. “Amazing animals, big, but basically harmless to people. Very, very unusual to see them in Hawaiian waters.”

The fisherman’s reaction of shock was totally justified, according to Dr. Rossiter.

“Heck yeah! If, if something predatory is bigger than the boat you’re in. Yeah, that’s perfectly okay,” he said. “They are the apex predators of the ocean. So they consume even, even great white sharks, for example,” Currie said.
“People are trying to avoid calling them killer whales anymore. Like, orca is a generally accepted term because there are no cases of them killing people,” Dr. Rossiter said.

Experts said the orcas were likely just passing through on a longer journey, which left Umayam with a memory that he and his friend will never forget.