It is mind-blowing knowing about the enormous creatures that live in the aquatic world, and it’s even more amazing seeing them when they resurface, and realizing how tiny you are in comparison to them. We had the chance to witness this once again, when a humpback whale was captured breaching the sea right next to a fishing boat.
The videos and pictures were provided by Douglas Croft, a 60-year-old, who was in the boat, and whale watcher Kate Cummings. The footage was captured in Monterey Bay, California, which is a popular whale-watching spot, but still, no one was expecting the largest sea mammal to come this close to the surface.
This happened during the Salmon season when humpbacks come to feed themselves for the summer, and there were a lot of fishing boats in the bay. Douglas Croft who witnessed the breach of this giant humpback leaping out of the depths was in shock.
“It was quite exciting! Salmon season coincides with the time when humpbacks are returning to Monterey Bay to feed for the summer, and there were hundreds of boats on the bay fishing.
This whale had breached a couple of times before this, and many times they’ll just keep doing it. I went below deck to shoot from a porthole close to the waterline. That’s what gives this amazing perspective of looking up at the whale.
That the breach was directly behind the fishing boat really shows the size. Since the boat is closer, it should look bigger, but the whale is enormous! If I’d been the fisherman, I’d probably need some new underwear,” said Croft.
Ms. Cummings managed to get a video recording of this magnificent show. “It was fun capturing this video. The whale had already breached multiple times much further away from the fisherman.
But sometimes when whales breach multiple times, they’re also heading a specific direction when they’re underwater building momentum for the next breach,” said Kate. “I figured the next breach would be around the fisherman because the whale was heading that way and sure enough! Though I didn’t expect the whale and the boat to line up so perfectly.”