Outdoors

Boaters capture close call as six humpback whales surface in unison

Svein Aasjord and Trond Ivarso were out for a simple day of whale watching near the appropriately named Whale Island in Norway. Cruising along a fjord, their boat was suddenly surrounded by six humpback whales breaching too close for comfort.

It’s a tense moment when the friends realize that a school of herring is approaching the boat, followed closely by the hungry whales.

“They’re coming close,” says one of the men, just before the whales broke the surface, gulping down mouthfuls of herring. Even though only four whales are visible in the video, there were actually six in the area, in what the two men describe as a “whale safari of a lifetime.”

The men were fortunate not to be harmed, as just one of these powerful mammals is capable of capsizing a boat of that size. But the whales were much more interested in a nice meal than causing trouble at sea.

The humpback whales left the area after they got their fill, leaving the startled boaters to gasp at their once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Although thanks to instant replay, feel free to treat yourself to a couple of rounds of this incredible video.

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