Caught on video: A minke whale joined a group of surfers in Australia and pulled off an amazing stunt–surfing into a baitball.
A minke whale joined a group of surfers in Australia last week and pulled off an amazing stunt: surfing into a baitball.
Daniel Cook was flying his drone over surfers at Lennox Head, just south of Byron Bay in New South Wales, where he captured footage of dolphins and two minke whales feeding on baitballs.
He also caught video of the surfing whale, sharing it with 9News.
“You never think of seeing something like that, so yeah, unbelievable,” Cook told 9News. “It’s pretty special, pretty blessed to capture something like that.”
Even an expert was amazed.
“Although it’s not rare for minkes to be feeding on baitballs of small fish like that, to surf into that baitball is just amazing,” Wayne Phillips, Seaworld’s head of marine science, told 9News.
“I was amazed. The footage was spectacular and I wish I was one of those guys out on a surfboard.”
Cris Lane is fortunate to be alive after a minke whale slammed into his fishing boat, knocking him into the water.
Cris Lane is fortunate to be alive after a minke whale slammed into his fishing boat, knocking him into the water.
Lane and Dave McCann were fishing Monday off West Cork, Ireland, when several whales began to feed on schooling fish. A minke whale struck the boat as both men were attempting to capture video footage with their cellphones.
“My main thought when I surfaced about 10 feet from the boat was don’t drift away,” Lane told For The Win Outdoors. “David doesn’t have any experience with boats and couldn’t get me.”
Lane, who was wearing a lifejacket, swam to the boat and climbed safely back on board.
Minke whale delivers glancing blow to fishing boat. Photo courtesy of Cris Lane
He said the men were fishing above a reef three miles offshore when they spotted a large fin whale, five or six minke whales, and several dolphins feeding on thousands of small fish that had grouped into a bait ball.
They were more than 200 yards away initially, but the moving bait ball delivered the foraging event alongside the boat, and as they held out their phones a minke whale slammed against the side of the vessel.
Cris Lane after climbing back aboard his boat
“It lifted us 3-4 feet out of the water and I think he gave us a slap of his tail for good measure,“ Lane recalled. “Not much went through my mind before I hit the water as it happened in the blink of an eye.”
Lane said the whale struck with a “glancing blow” and seemed to be fine afterward, and added that his vessel was not damaged.
He later shared words of wisdom via Facebook: “Always wear your lifejacket.”
A fisherman took an unexpected swim when a minke whale collided with his boat, sending him overboard as his fishing partner, who videotaped the encounter, went flying to the deck.
A fisherman took an unexpected swim when a minke whale collided with his boat, sending him overboard as his fishing partner, who videotaped the impact, went flying to the deck.
Cris Lane and Dave McCann were fishing off West Cork, Ireland, on Monday when they noticed quite a bit of activity in the water.
“There were dolphins, fin whales and minke all around us; a group of whales about 300 yards away from us,” Lane told CorkBeo.
“Next thing I knew, one of the whales just slammed into the side of the boat. The other guy went flying onto the deck and I went flying off the back of the boat into the water.
“Dave got up and he didn’t know where I was,” Lane continued. “He checked the cabin because he thought I might be in there. It took him a moment to realize I was in the water trying to get back on.”
McCann captured video of the impact from which he produced a photo of the minke whale colliding with the boat.
Lane, who was wearing a lifejacket, was not injured but did lose his cell phone in the mishap. He used the opportunity to warn others to always wear a lifejacket.
“You have to wear a lifejacket, and you should have a means of getting back in the boat, too,” Lane told CorkBeo.
CorkBeo reported that minke, fin and humpback whales are currently feeding off the coast of Cork and that Lane’s boat “simply got in the way of one hungry whale’s lunch.”
