Stunning encounter for this lucky diver.
Brian
Skerry story with Right Whales - ''It was amazing. I mean, I have to
tell you there were days when I was at the bottom at 70 feet, and here
comes this bus swimming down. I’m standing on the bottom, and as it
comes down, I get on my knees, lean over
backwards—my scuba tank is now digging into the sand. And of course
their eyes are on the side of their heads, so it had to turn and look at
me. It came within inches. Here’s this softball-size whale eye looking
at me. But then it stops—stops on a dime. It’s just hovering there, and
literally one flick of its tail, and it would have crushed me like a
bug. But it doesn’t. It was just highly curious.
They were all highly curious. They would come within inches of me—not every day and not every whale. One dive I was swimming alongside this huge whale, kicking as hard as I can to keep up—it doesn’t appear to be moving very fast, but it’s still hard to maintain that speed as a human being. So I’m kicking and kicking and breathing like a freight train. I’m thinking, Nobody’s going to believe this—I’ve got to get this picture! I tried to keep up with it as long as I could, but I had to take a break, so I stopped and kneeled down on the bottom. Instead of continuing, the whale stops and turns and waits for me. It was like a dog that was following me around. After a while it would get bored and go back up to the surface, so I would ascend to kind of remind it that I was still around. It would see me, and I’d go back down—and sure enough, the whale would follow me. It was like swimming around with a friend. ♥
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/10/right-whales/skerry-field-notes
They were all highly curious. They would come within inches of me—not every day and not every whale. One dive I was swimming alongside this huge whale, kicking as hard as I can to keep up—it doesn’t appear to be moving very fast, but it’s still hard to maintain that speed as a human being. So I’m kicking and kicking and breathing like a freight train. I’m thinking, Nobody’s going to believe this—I’ve got to get this picture! I tried to keep up with it as long as I could, but I had to take a break, so I stopped and kneeled down on the bottom. Instead of continuing, the whale stops and turns and waits for me. It was like a dog that was following me around. After a while it would get bored and go back up to the surface, so I would ascend to kind of remind it that I was still around. It would see me, and I’d go back down—and sure enough, the whale would follow me. It was like swimming around with a friend. ♥
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/10/right-whales/skerry-field-notes
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