Whale watchers were treated to a rare sight Tuesday: A pod of killer whales swimming off the coast of Los Angeles.
Local whale watching service Harbor Breeze Cruises told KTLA that a pod of eight to 10 killer whales, including three calves, was spotted near Redondo Canyon, north of Point Vicente at around noon.
The tour set out to find the pod after boaters initially spotted the whales near Long Beach. When the tour reached Redondo Canyon, whale watchers witnessed the young orcas playing with each other and an adult male.
Video of the sighting shows one of the whales surfacing directly in front of the thrilled whale watchers. Watch video of the sighting in the player at the top of this story.
A pod of killer whales was spotted off the coast of Los Angeles on Oct. 20, 2026. (Harbor Breeze Cruises)
A pod of killer whales was spotted off the coast of Los Angeles on Oct. 20, 2026. (Harbor Breeze Cruises)
“Hi … I love you!” one of the whale watchers is heard saying in the video as the orca surfaced.
The whales are Eastern Tropical Pacific orcas, according to Harbor Breeze Cruises. The pod was seen in San Diego days before the latest sighting.
“Orcas are extremely fast and cover a lot of ocean,” a spokesperson with Harbor Breeze Cruises said. “They were being seen in San Diego over the weekend and already came all the way up here!”
The killer-whale sighting is one of many unusual wildlife encounters documented in Southern California in recent months. Abnormally warm ocean temperatures related to the El Niño season have drawn numerous rarely seen marine animals to the region. Other recent sightings include a hammerhead shark, a whale shark and venomous sea snakes.
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