Humpback whales put on a show for kayakers

[badbadboy]

There have been times when out paddling I've come unexpectedly close to whales and dolphins. I was cruising in the Gulf Islands and a pod appeared off my starboard almost like they were escorting me through the passage.

Seeing this video, I am a bit alarmed how close the kayakers got to the whales because there was a mother with a calf nearby.

Awesome display of nature regardless.

 

[cktc9]

Impressive video!
...especially the last jump where the camera goes dark!

I was one of the kayakers that got a close-up view of the humpback in English Bay a few months ago, and got a few pictures as well (grey days, lousy lighting, yuck).

But there was no way to get too close, since you couldn't hope to paddle fast enough to catch it, and anyway it's moving underwater, so how to track it...
Nobody told the whale it wasn't supposed to get so close to me and the other paddlers, though!

I saw it on 2 days, and both times it was circling around between Kits yacht club and Jericho. And both days, it turned off it's course and made a bee-line for me and the other paddler I was with, and both times it surfaced quite close, just behind us. It knew exactly where we were...
It seemed to like doing that to others as well.
We had no way to keep up, even the racing canoes were too slow, but the whale kept coming back to us, so no need for pursuit.
Everyone just paddled into the general vicinity and waited...

...an interesting experience to see a bus-sized animal coming straight at you, when you're only in a kayak...

 

[Bridge]

Even though those kayakers might not have been able to avoid that encounter, I certainly would not have liked to have been that close to a mother and calf, as, like it or not, they are wild animals. I think if I'd have had a camera I'd have dropped it because my hands would have been shaking so much!