A pair of humpback whales recently put on a show for enthralled boaters in the Pacific Ocean.
Author Michael Hodges and several marine biologists were sailing off the coast of California when they spotted the massive creatures, according to Hodges’ May 7 post on Instagram.
“We were out at sea for hours, in big waves, eyes eagerly scanning the horizon for just one glimpse,” he wrote.
Then, on the horizon, he noticed mist spouting from the blowhole of a “giant humpback whale.”
“I’d never seen a whale before,” Hodges wrote. “And when the two giant humpbacks fully breached and spun in the air, I was speechless, as were my biologist friends.”
A photo accompanying the post shows the massive creature lurching straight up out of the water.
Hodges also posted a video on Facebook of the two whales swimming along the surface, before flipping their distinctive tales in the air and diving below.
“It’s hard to explain the sheer size and power of these incredible, intelligent animals,” he wrote. “A day I truly will never forget.”
Named for their characteristic hump, the whales are found throughout every ocean on Earth, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
They can travel across large stretches of the oceans, with some migrating 5,000 miles between the summer and winter.
The massive creatures were nearly hunted to extinction before a 1985 moratorium on commercial whaling. Since then, the species is increasing in population, according to NOAA.
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Source Agencies
