Video: playful orcas spotted off California coast

Orcas dazzle whale watchers off California coast

A pod of orcas was seen acting like "kids at the playground," according to the Monterey Bay Whale Watch who filmed the killer whales. The orcas played at the surface for seven hours and never took a dive, said Evan Brodsky. Credit: Evan Brodsky/California Killer Whale Project via Storyful

Orcas put on a spectacular show off the coast of California.

A videographer on board a whale-watching vessel from the Monterey Bay recently recorded the so-called killer whales playing near the surface for hours.

The orcas, which are actually the largest type of dolphin, leaped from the water and splashed on their back.

"They socialized like kids at the playground," said Evan Brodsky, the videographer with the Monterey Bay Whale Watch.

In more than 30 years of studying the marine mammals, Brodsky said he had never seen them like this.

Typically, orcas arrive near central California in April and May to prey on gray whale calves. It's not common for them to linger near Monterey Bay into June.

Halfway across the world, another group of orcas is baffling fishermen and scientists for repeatedly ramming boats and vessels off the coasts of Portugal, Spain and Morocco. In one instance in May, the killer whales severely damaged a sailboat, forcing the crew to request help to return to port.