The mere sight of blue whales swimming near the surface can take a person’s breath away. But to watch the massive leviathans swim at high speed and breach like dolphins?
The mere sight of blue whales swimming near the surface can take a person’s breath away. But to watch the massive cetaceans race alongside the boat and break the surface like dolphins?
“We were all stunned and excited, and knew what we were seeing was exceptionally rare,” Charlie Harmer, owner of Silver Shark Adventures, told For The Win Outdoors. “I still can’t believe it.”
Harmer’s crew captured the accompanying footage last Monday in Bahia de los Angeles in Mexico’s Sea of Cortez. It shows two blue whales racing side by side at 20 mph and porpoising as three passengers, Harmer, and his captain watched in awe.
“I still can’t believe it,” Harmer said.
Blue whales are the largest animals ever to have inhabited the planet. They can measure 100 feet and weigh more than 150 tons. They’re rarely observed engaging in racing behavior, which could involve courtship or merely competition.
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Silver Shark Adventures posted the clip to Facebook, inspiring dozens of comments, including this from California-based whale researcher, Alisa Schulman-Janiger:
“We saw this same rare behavior off of Santa Cruz Island in Southern California a few months ago; I have seen this less than a dozen times over 40 years.”
Harmer told For The Win Outdoors that the whales measured about 80 feet and the encounter lasted 20 minutes.
His company moors a boat in Bahia de los Angeles year-round and most clients drive from Southern California, 400 miles down the Baja California peninsula, for seven-day adventures.
The vast bay and its many islands are protected as a biosphere reserve. Its nutrient-rich waters teem with life.
States Harmer on the Silver Shark Adventures website: “My dream is to give our guests the feeling they have experienced something that is truly ‘once in a lifetime.’ Something to check off their ‘bucket list.’
–Images courtesy of Silver Shark Adventures
