Video captures killer whales chasing and tossing dolphins in Monterey Bay

Orcas caught on camera, leaping out of the water, hunting dolphins. Action News 8 reporter Jasmine D. Charnette has more. Oh, there we go. We got, we got them. Whoa! This is, most whale watchers that come out on a regular basis come 15 to 20 times a year to witness that one event. So, that's, that's the big thing. Sunday morning started like any other whale watching trip for sanctuary cruises out of Moss Landing, until Captain Joey Stagnero spotted a pod of killer whales closing in on a group of dolphins. I immediately called the owner of the boat. I said, get out here. This is unreal, unreal. And he did. And we got some, some, a lot of happy tourists here in the Monterey Bay. With camera in hand, owner Mike Sack and naturalist Luke Kilpatrick captured the moment the hunt exploded to the surface. As multi-ton orcas burst out the water in pursuit and to play with their prey. By far one of the top, you know, moments. I mean, I was, I've been out here doing the whale watching for, you know, 18 or so years. And yeah, it was right up there. What you see on the camera is half of what we actually saw. You know, Sunday was amazing. Sunday was great. I've never seen them throw whales up that high. Like, the whale was up higher than the boat. It was, it was insane. The orcas were back again on Monday, giving experts another close-up look at how these predators hunt. It's because they're reaching a top burst speed of around 30 miles an hour, coming up from underneath and then trying to ram to the dolphin, to hit it as hard as they can to weaken it before the rest of the pod works to take it down. While the scene can be a hard watch, biologists say it's a natural part of life in a healthy Monterey Bay ecosystem. You know, we were telling people it's, it's nature, you know, we have to accept it, but it doesn't mean you have to like it necessarily. Because it is very difficult to watch. But it does play into a part of how healthy Monterey Bay is. While today's passengers didn't witness the same dramatic hunt, they were still reminded why every trip on the Monterey Bay is different. Well, I've never seen this many humpback whales. So last time I was near the Channel Islands and we saw dolphins and a few whales in the distance. But there was just a lot of activity and a lot of breaching today. For the handful of passengers who were there, it's a moment they won't forget.