Video Captures Whale Landing On Boat “It Was Insane”
Unbelievable video footage caught the moment a humpback whale breached the water and landed on top of a boat off the coast of Plymouth, Massachusetts, on Sunday.
Plymouth Harbormaster Chad Hunter said the encounter occurred around 10 a.m. off the coast of White Horse Beach. The 19-foot vessel sustained light damage to its bow but was surprisingly seaworthy. The boat returned to the boat ramp on its own power and there were no injuries.
“The boat was in the right place at the wrong time. This could have been much worse for all involved,” Hunter said. “Children like to lean over the side of the boat to watch the fish so it is very lucky that nobody got hurt here. An incident like this is pretty rare but very dangerous to boaters.”
Individuals who have fished there for decades, said they have never seen anything like this before.
“All of a sudden, full breach, ten feet out of the water, slams on top of his guy’s boat, like his bow goes down, basically, into the water, engine out, full thing pops off, whale rolls over the side of it, totally fine, but his boat was messed up,” Ryder Parkhurst said. “It was insane, the guy was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, that’s all. Pops up, bang…right on the bow of the guy’s boat.”
“I just saw the boat go freaking flying, it was crazy,” Parkhurst added. “It was nuts. I couldn’t believe the thing was still floating.”
Harbormaster crews had been monitoring the area since 5 a.m. trying to ensure everyone’s safety after a boat was bumped by a whale on Friday.
The harbormaster noted there were many boats in the area Sunday for recreational fishing due to an abundance of bait fish, adding that’s also what is attracting whales to the area to feed.
“They’ve been out there for the last three days continuously so there’s a lot of whales, but they’re also attracting a lot of boaters, which creates a problem obviously after today,” longtime boater Chris Grant said. “They’re beautiful creatures but you know, you gotta keep their distance, they are still animals you know?”