A group of whale watchers sure got the experience of a lifetime when a weekend whale watching excursion with Sanctuary Cruises whale tour outside of Moss Landing, Calif., led to several playful humpback whales putting on quite a show, breaching the water and playing around a bunch of kayakers as the passengers looked on. But then, as you can see in the video, it took a bizarre and scary turn when a huge humpback whale breached suddenly and landed on top of a kayak.
The video, shot by Sanctuary Cruises passenger Larry Plants, shows the entire incident up close and personal, perhaps too up close.
"Humpbacks were coming up next to and in the middle of many kayakers. It was amusing. It's all fun and games until someone gets jumped on," Sanctuary Cruises officials said.
Captain Michael Sack, who was at the wheel of the Sanctuary Cruise Ship, said that the kayakers were lucky to have made it out alive. The group of whales was gorging on krill and anchovy fish when the group paddled through the large pod of whales.
"It was very scary to watch," Sack said, adding that humpbacks can grow to 62 feet long and weigh about 50 tons.
"Kayaking with whales can be extremely dangerous," he said, according to Grind TV. "This was one of the more dangerous situations that I've seen out here. I'm not sure if at this point these two know how lucky they were. One should realize that humpback whales are wild animals and totally unpredictable. It's a very uncontrolled environment out there."
The rest of the kayakers in the group helped the upturned couple empty their kayak and get back in it, USA Today reported.
"The most extraordinary thing to happen to me," said one of the kayakers. "We were taken under the water by the whale, perhaps in the down-draft." he said. "I think it brushed against me while I was out of the kayak... Neither of us know how we weren't ended there and then."
