A ginormous humpback whale has been pictured breaching the sea right next to a fishing boat, making the boat look tiny in comparison.
A fisherman can be seen staring at the huge figure of the whale as it overshadows his boat in the pictures and video footage taken by Douglas Croft, 60, and whale watcher Kate Cummings.
The incredible footage was taken in Monterey Bay, California, which is a popular whale-watching spot – however, nobody could have expected to come this close to one of the water’s largest mammals.
The fisherman witnessed the giant humpback leaping out of the depths, incredibly close to his boat, Baja Sueno, as he stood in shock.
Douglas Croft, who took the photos, said:
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 water line. 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 huge! If I’d been the fisherman, I’d probably need some new underwear.
Ms Cummings, who took the video, said:
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.
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.
Well I don’t know about you lot but that’s put me off fishing for life (not that I’ve ever been in the first place, but you know).
I’ll just admire the pictures from afar…
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A Broadcast Journalism Masters graduate who went on to achieve an NCTJ level 3 Diploma in Journalism, Lucy has done stints at ITV, BBC Inside Out and Key 103. While working as a journalist for UNILAD, Lucy has reported on breaking news stories while also writing features about mental health, cervical screening awareness, and Little Mix (who she is unapologetically obsessed with).