Amazing Photo of a Humpback Whale Breaching a Boat Length Away
While working as a fishing guide in Tofino, British Columbia, Matthew Thornton captured this wild photograph of a humpback whale calf leaping out of the water an extremely short distance away (estimated at 10-30 feet). In his submission to the National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest, Thornton writes,
Here’s the video he’s referring to — it’s just as amazing as the photograph.On our way in from fishing for halibut we noticed a few humpback whales playing in the distance and we stopped part way in to watch. It was quite an experience to see something completely airborne so close to the boat. The lucky thing was I got the photo I submitted. A fellow boat also got a picture of the whale close to mid air and it was also all caught on video. Was an amazing day.
At least it was a friendly whale calf and not a great white shark:
If either of these things happened to us, we’d probably need to change our pants!
Image credit: Photograph by Matthew Thornton
