Visitors capture a whale of a picture off the coast of Newport Beach
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Amber Miller just wanted to get a picture with her friends on a whale watching trip.
They lined up along the rail of the Davey’s Locker boat Ocean Explorer.
Then, magic happened. A breaching humpback whale took flight.
“As soon as we huddled up together, we heard the whale coming up right behind us,” Miller said, adding that her husband Austin Hassoldt was right there to take a picture of the three moms. “It was just such a coincidence that was the moment that it came out of the water.”
Miller, visiting from Nevada and staying at Newport Dunes, submitted an online review of the Nov. 10 trip later that night. With the review she included the photo of herself and friends Natasha Combs and Sarah Hein, with Miller looking back at her husband in amazement.
Davey’s Locker communications manager Jessica Rodriguez learned about the shot the next morning. She called it probably the most incredible candid photo she had ever seen on a trip in her 13 years with the company.
“I almost fell out of my chair looking at it ,” Rodriguez said. “I was like, this looks fake, but I know better than that. We’ve had humpback whales around here … Good luck in the next 10 years getting another shot like that, even if you plan for it.”
Humpback whales are regularly seen off the coast of Newport Beach in the fall, Rodriguez said. The species has come back in increasing numbers from the brink of extinction that was caused by commercial whaling.
The whales head south from their feeding grounds in the Pacific Northwest and Northern California around this time of year, Rodriguez said, as things get colder up there. Anchovies close to the shore provide a good food source.
“One of the cool things about working here for the company is that when we get cool stuff like this, it’s such a great way for us to talk about why it’s important that we protect whales,” Rodriguez said. “ If you can inspire awe, excitement, joy, that makes people happy and it makes them want to care about the animals. The first thing that I think of when I see this stuff is ‘Wow, this planet is incredible.’”
Miller and Hassoldt, who own a wedding photography company in Las Vegas called Amber & Co. Photography, know about getting the big shot.
This just happened to be a picture they will never forget.
Hassoldt formerly worked out of San Pedro for a scuba diving and whale watching company, and the couple met while scuba diving.
“We both treasure those animals and know how beautiful they are,” Miller said.
As for the expression on her face in the photo?
“It was kind of just the shock of a once-in-a-lifetime experience happening,” she said. “When that whale hit the water, it literally splashed all of us on the front of the boat. That just made it even more epic and awesome.”
