Local

Whale of a tale after an Orca is spotted off Cape Cod

NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — It was a whale of a sighting off Nantucket on Sunday afternoon.

“There’s literally a frickin’ killer whale beside my boat,” said Jerry Leeman, the captain of the Teresa Marie IV.

Leeman says that orca then swam next to his boat.  “He came right up alongside the boat. He came about 10 to 15 feet off the boat you know we right along with us for about a good half an hour,” said Capt. Leeman.

Soon after, Skipper Asher Molyneaux spotted the orca about 40 miles off the cape.  “I wasn’t sure if it escaped from Sea World or something,” said Molyneaux.

Capt. Jerry says in his fifteen years of fishing he’s only seen six orcas.

“You don’t see this everyday folks,” he said on a his social media post.

[ A killer sight: Orca spotted off Cape Cod ]

But that’s not necessarily true according to Dr. Charles “Stormy” Mayo III, who is the Senior Scientist at the Center for Coastal Studies.

“In the 70′s and the 60′s they were fairly common visitors to Cape Cod Bay feeding on tuna,” said Dr. Mayo.

He says as tuna have vanished, so have pods of orcas. However, he adds it is highly unusual for one to be alone.

Some people think it might be the same solo killer whale spotted in recent years from Maine to Massachusetts.

“The assumption is it’s the whale that locals started calling ‘Old Tom’,” said Dr. Mayo.

However, that’s not certain. What is though — this orca was curious not hungry. “The boys tried to throw it some haddock and he didn’t even touch them you know. He was just more curious staring at the boat and staring at us. Come alongside poke his head out and eyeballing us,” said Capt. Leeman.

Both fishing crews took in the amazing sight and then the whale vanished beneath the waves.

“Then he kind of just went off into the fog went down and that’s the last time we saw them,” said Capt. Leeman.

Dr. Mayo says orcas were commonly sighted off the coast of Cape Cod in the early 20th century.

Who knows where this one will turn up next?

Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts.

Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW