Local Killer Whale Sighting Goes Down In Record Book

Jan. 24, 2004

The folks who took an offhsore fishing charter out of Port Aransas Sunday morning came home with the catch of the day and they didn't catch it on rods n reels they caught it on tape.

Capt. Dean Luke and his crew spotted 14 whales swimming along a chartered boat
about 90 miles offshore Sunday morning.

They knew this was a rare event, but they would have never thought the sighting would go down in a record book.

A group of men aren't standing around the Dolphin Dock telling whales tales, there's truth to their stories and they shot the video to prove it off the coast of Port Aransas.
Capt. Dean Luke says, "I yelled at the deck hand and started screaming down the deal that they're killer whales. Get everyone on the bow. It's an exceptional sight."

A sighting that local University of Texas Marine expert Tony Amos says will go down in the record books.

"Only 9 reliable records of collected sightings before 1990. Another 14 have been collected since then."

Amos says, "I think it's fantastic, I'm jealous actually. I've sailed the worlds oceans and seen orcas before but never in the Gulf of Mexico. It's a fine sighting."

Passengers say even though they were on the "Dolphin" boat to go fishing, seeing the whales was one of the highlights of the trip.

Luke says, "when the people started cheering they actually started doing little stunts."

A passenger on the boat, Mac Williamson says, "it was amazing,
it was like they were playing with the boat and crossing under it."

Passenger, Tommy Freeman says, "you can't get the feeling of it until you see it first hand. It was really an awesome experience."

In total the fishermen saw 14 killer whales, the longest one ranging anywhere from 30 to 35 feet long.

Amos says killer whales are in every ocean in the world.

It is estimated that there about 70 killer whales in the Gulf of Mexico but seeing them is another story.

Amos says the colder winter weather could be one reason these whales were moving through the gulf waters.

http://www.kristv.com/Global/story.asp?S=1607481