This is one of the most jaw-dropping videos we’ve seen in a while. Photographer Douglas Croft and whale watcher Kate Cummings were out on the seas of Monterey Bay, California. They were there in the height of salmon season, when hundreds of fisherman take their boats onto the water.
It’s also the time of year when humpback whales return to the Bay for food. Douglas and Kate hoped to get some great views of these beautiful whales as they breached.
The pair spotted a whale breaching out in the distance and hurried below deck to get a better shot of the water line. Kate had a good feeling about the direction in which the whale was heading and followed her instincts.
“Sometimes when whales breach multiple times, they’re also heading a specific direction when they’re underwater building momentum for the next breach,” she told Caters News. “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.”
Suddenly, the massive humpback whale bursted up through the water, narrowly missing a fisherman’s boat in the process before it crashed back down in a thunderous clap.
Kate was able to capture the perfect perspective which shows just how enormous the whale actually is.
“Since the boat is closer, it should look bigger, but the whale is huge,” she says. “If I’d been the fisherman, I’d probably need some new underwear!”
Source : https://www.littlethings.com/humpback-whale-breach-close-to-boat/