CHATHAM – A Cape Cod fisherman encountered a rare sight in local waters Monday – an orca.
Long-time fisherman and charter boat captain Bruce Peters posted photos of what appeared to be an orca to social media, saying he encountered the animal about 12 miles northeast of Chatham.
“It was kind of playing. It was rolling around on the surface. It was actually upside down when I first saw it. I didn’t see the dorsal fin,” Peters said. “Then it righted itself and I saw the big dorsal fin sticking up and I said ‘wow’ that is a killer whale.”
Peters and the fishermen he was chartering could see the marine mammal for about 10 minutes.
“It kind of paralleled alongside of us for about five minutes and then angled away,” he said.
Peters said he heard rumors over the last week that killer whales had been spotted east of Chatham.
“We saw it from 75 yards away and as you can tell by the picture it is clearly a male killer whale,” he said.
Peters said the whale’s presence may have had an effect on the fishing in the area.
“We never did get a tuna bite,” he said. “The sound was great and I expected to catch a fish any minute.”
It was the second time Peters had seen an orca in open water in his lifetime. The first was in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Francisco.
By BRIAN MERCHANT & MATT McCARTHY, CapeCod.com NewsCenter
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