Two extremely lucky kayakers have one heck of a whale tale to tell after their early morning encounter with one of the massive mammals. Tom Mustill and Charlotte Kinloch were paddling along in an ocean kayak off the coast of California at Moss Landing, which is near Monterey Bay, at around 8 a.m. on Saturday morning.
The British holidaymakers had heard that a large group of migrating humpback whales had been spotted nearby so they quickly set out to go see them. After spending three hours in the water watching the giant whales feed and breach the surface they decided to head back to shore.
It was during this return trip that things got a little hairy. The pair, along with several other kayaks, were in the midst of the group of feeding whales. The next thing they knew was that a huge, dark object was above them, blocking the light, and that’s when Mr. Mustill thought “Oh, I’m going to die now.”
What they saw coming full speed at them was a 40-60 ton humpback whale who had just sped up from deep below to breach the water surface, right were they were situated. The two were thrown out of the kayak and sucked deep under water by the sheer force of the whale’s landing.
It created such a forceful suction that even their extremely buoyant kayak was pulled under as if it were a toy. Thankfully, they were smart and wearing life vests which quickly returned them to the surface and both managed to escape unhurt.
The only damage was to the kayak, which had a small dent in its bow and it had been flooded with water. Nearby experienced kayakers helped pump out the water and righted the boat, and the shocked pair made it safely back to shore.
Remarkably, a cruise ship passenger, Larry Plants, managed to catch the extraordinary moment when the huge whale breached. This is one of those unbelievable videos you have to see to believe and it really takes your breath away!
Right after the whale’s jump and crash landing a fellow passenger can be heard in the video asking “The kayak! Where’s the kayak?” and another passenger answers her “He knocked it over!” The video was posted online by Sanctuary Cruises, the operators of the boat Mr. Plants was on when he shot the footage.
The boat’s Captain Micheal Sack wrote on his website that “Kayak whale watching can be extremely dangerous. And one should realize that humpback whales are wild animals and totally unpredictable. It’s a very uncontrolled environment out there.
Just like any wilderness experience.” His words of wisdom and warning stress the danger and vulnerability that a person faces when they go out on the open ocean in a tiny boat among enormous wild whales who are feeding. Next time perhaps the two lucky kayakers who almost died will take a bigger boat!
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