A pod of orcas swam right up to a boat off the waters of Denman Island and gave the people onboard quite a show.
Mark Ferguson had just put his boat in the water with a friend on Sunday morning when he spotted the pod nearby.
“Probably four to six orcas right in front of us there, going in circles and jumping up in and out,” he says.
The second he saw the marine mammals he shut off the boat and the orcas started heading towards them.
“Very slow pace, the upper fins were above the water,” recalls Ferguson.
As the whales came closer, he took out his phone to film.
"I could see the eye looked right at me. It was very majestic,” he says. “So beautiful."
The orca did a turn beside the boat and then breached right in front.
"I could have put my hand out and gosh, it was so close,” he says, noting he felt his heart skip a beat. “It was quite phenomenal actually.”
This is the second time the Vancouver Island resident has spotted orcas while out on the water.
"I've lived here for 23 years... and I've only seen it like two, maybe three times,” he says, adding he considers himself lucky.
His friend aboard the boat had never seen an orca in real life or been near Denman. Ferguson says they were in awe as well.
