Moment humpback whale breaches and lands on top of small fishing boat
A humpback whale was caught on camera as it breached and flopped onto the bow of a small fishing boat off the coast of Plymouth, Massachusetts on Sunday.
The stunning footage of the encounter shows the whale fully jumping out of the water before slamming down on top of a small boat. The 19-foot-long fishing boat partially submerged under the whale’s weight for a moment, before bouncing back.
The incident took place around 10am Sunday about a few hundred yards off Manomet Point, an area where whales can often be spotted feeding.
Fortunately, no one was injured in the chance encounter, and the boat only sustained light damage and was able to return to the boat ramp on its own power.
‘The boat was in the right place at the wrong time. This could have been much worse for all involved,’ Plymouth Harbormaster Chad Hunter told NBC10 Boston.
‘Children like to lean over the side of the boat to watch the fish so it is very lucky that nobody got hurt here. An incident like this is pretty rare but very dangerous to boaters,’ he added.
Local crews have been monitoring the area after more and more whales have been spotted within close proximity to boaters. There were also more boats in the area than usual on Sunday due to an abundance of bait fish, which is also what has attracted so many whales to the area to feed.
Witnesses, many of whom have been fishing for decades, told the outlet they’d never seen anything as intense as this.
Ryder Parkhurst said he couldn’t believe the boat was still floating after the whale flopped off its bow.
‘All of a sudden, full breech, ten feet out of the water, slams on top of this guy’s boat, like his bow goes down, basically, into the water, engine out, full thing pops off, whale rolls over the side of it, totally fine, but his boat was messed up,’ Parkhurst said.
‘It was insane, the guy was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, that’s all,’ he added.
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