Whales gone wild: Videos show humpbacks bumping humans in Half Moon Bay
It’s been a week of whales gone wild off the coast of California, after a pair of videos emerged on social media showing humpback whales surfacing and bumping a kayaker and a paddleboarder.
The first incident was on Saturday, as flutist Viviana Guzman serenaded the massive marine mammals from her paddleboard in Half Moon Bay, south of San Francisco.
As she pauses for a moment to adjust her camera, a stampede of fleeing, small fish (soon to be whale food) fly out of the water in front of and under her board, followed a split-second later by the huge white and gray chin, or rostrum, of a pursuing humpback.
The whale continues rising out of the water and bumps Guzman’s board as she reaches down and holds on to maintain balance. In an interview with CNN, Guzman said she’s lived near Half Moon Bay for years and had never seen humpbacks so close to the shore, so she and a friend went out to take a closer look.
On Wednesday, fisherman Eddy Willis posted a video on Facebook and Vimeo of himself kayaking in Half Moon Bay with a camera attached to a selfie-stick.
On his social media profile, Willis said he’s on a six-day kayaking tour of the California coast and was in Half Moon Bay earlier this week when he spotted the whales.
In the video, Willis is slowly paddling forward when two whales rise from the water a few feet in front of and to the right of his kayak.
The whales lift the nose of the kayak slightly before submerging again. Willis’ camera captures the whales a few seconds later resurfacing about 100 feet away.
He titled the video “Moby Dick meets Edub.”
Close encounters between cetaceans and humans in the San Francisco Bay Area have also become more common lately as whales have swum closer to shore chasing anchovies and herring, said Giancarlo Rulli, spokesman for the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito.
Humpbacks have been seen in San Francisco Bay near Alcatraz island, where they’ve bumped kite surfers who want a close peek, Rulli said.
People should stay at least 100 yards away from humpback whales, according to federal guidelines.
For breaking California news, follow @JosephSerna on Twitter.
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