Breaching Whale Narrowly Misses Fishing Boat

When the salmon return to California's Monterey Bay, the largest mammals on earth are soon to follow. Wildlife photographer Douglas Croft and whale watcher Kate Cummings were on the same whale-watching boat when the spectacular unfolded before their eyes.

Croft snapped a series of dramatic images, while Cummings captured it on video. The imagery shows the moment a huge humpback whale bursts through the calm sea close to an unsuspecting angler on a center-console.

"Salmon season coincides with the time when humpbacks are returning to Monterey Bay to feed for the summer, and there were hundreds of boats on the bay fishing," Croft told the Cater News Agency. "I went below deck to shoot from a porthole close to the water line. That's what gives this amazing perspective of looking up at the whale. Since the boat is closer, it should look bigger, but the whale is huge!"

Cummings said the whale had breached multiple times much farther away from the fisherman. "But sometimes when whales breach multiple times, they're also heading a specific direction when they're underwater building momentum for the next breach," she said. "I figured the next breach would be around the fisherman because the whale was heading that way, and sure enough! Though I didn't expect the whale and the boat to line up so perfectly."

See for yourself with Cummings' video.