• By Patch Staff
• 5:12 pm

A pod of orcas—commonly known as killer whales—was spotted Saturday afternoon, and may include “Chopfin,” a well-known transient orca who’s been seen as far south as Dana Point, according to Alisa Schulman-Janiger from the American Cetacean Society – Los Angeles chapter.

“Captain Danny Salas of the Christopher out of Harbor Breeze Cruises in Long Beach is used to sighting whales for his passengers from the bridge of the Christoper,” reports Patch fishing columnist Philip Friedman. “Today however, Salas is spotting orcas from a lookout on the Palos Verdes Peninsula,” Friedman reports on his blog.

More from Phil Friedman Outdoors:

Salas was driving near Point Vicente with his 16-year-old daughter Caroline when the young student from Palos Verdes High saw some giant dorsal fins slicing through the water. “Dad, I think I see a pod of killer whales.” Salas pulled over and sure enough there was a sizable pod of Orcas. Captain Salas estimated that there were around 10 killer whales.

Then, off in the distance the younger Salas spied a huge pod of dolphin. “Dad, the killer whales are headed right for them.” Capatain Salas said the pod of orcas headed straight for the dolphin and when they arrived, the dolphin started to jump out of the water.

The orcas, he wrote, were headed east towards Long Beach any minute now. But as of 4 p.m. they were still well north of Belmont Shore.

Schulman-Janiger also said that there may be up to seven orcas in the pod…

for the full article go here:

http://belmontshore.patch.com/articles/killer-whales-spotted-heading-for-long-beach-orcas-belmont-shore-the-christopher-phil-friedman-outdoors-palos-verdes-dolphin