13 Rare Killer Whales Put On An Incredible Show Off Newport Beach

A rarely seen group of approximately 10–13 Eastern Tropical Pacific killer whales was spotted off Newport Beach Monday, September 28, including several young calves.

Whale-watching boats from Davey’s Locker, Newport Landing Whale Watching and Newport Coastal Adventure had incredible encounters with the killer whales throughout the day.

Preliminary identification information was provided by Alisa Schulman-Janiger, lead biologist for the California Killer Whale Project, who has been photographing and studying killer whales for more than 30 years.

Of the 13 killer whales spotted, 11 have already been confirmed. The identified whales include four mothers known as Ana, Baja Nicki, Top Notch and Kali, along with Cookie and Coronado, two younger killer whales familiar from the group’s previous Southern California appearances in 2023 and 2024.

The return is especially exciting because the same family pod was documented off Orange County 19 separate times between December 2023 and February 2024.

During that period, the whales were repeatedly observed hunting common and bottlenose dolphins, socializing, traveling and interacting with their young.

Eastern Tropical Pacific killer whales are much more commonly associated with waters off Mexico and Central America, making encounters with them off Orange County particularly unusual.

Their return more than two years later, with familiar individuals and a new generation of young killer whales, is especially exciting for the crews who hope to encounter them again along the coast.

It remains unknown how long the killer whales will stay off Orange County, but observers will be watching closely to see where they go next.