SWriverstone
Paddler
So while paddling off the Oregon Coast yesterday, I had my first semi-close encounter with a whale. I've seen them farther away, but in this case, I was startled when a gray whale (likely one of our resident whales who live off the central Oregon coast year-round) surfaced about 50 feet away from me. (I was NOT expecting it!) The whale was feeding, because it dove, bringing its tail fluke gracefully out of the water.
It was, of course, a thrilling and awe-inspiring encounter...but moments after seeing the whale so close, my next thought was "Oh sh*t—I'm really tiny and that whale is gigantic!" Visions of some YouTube video of a humpback surfacing under a kayaker, tossing the boat into the air, flashed through my head...and my next thought was "I better get the heck out of here!" so I sprinted away from the whale's direction of travel until I was a good hundred yards away.
Was I being silly to basically flee? Are incidents of whales coming into physical contact with a kayak as rare as lightning strikes? Or are they pretty common if you paddle around whales a lot? (Are whales ever curious about kayakers? Or do they totally ignore them?) I just want to get a better handle on this so next time, I'll know whether I can totally relax and enjoy the show? Or run like hell?
Oh, and of course I did NOT get video or a photo. :-( Which almost makes me think I need to keep a mounted GoPro rolling all the time to actually capture something like that on video, LOL.
It was, of course, a thrilling and awe-inspiring encounter...but moments after seeing the whale so close, my next thought was "Oh sh*t—I'm really tiny and that whale is gigantic!" Visions of some YouTube video of a humpback surfacing under a kayaker, tossing the boat into the air, flashed through my head...and my next thought was "I better get the heck out of here!" so I sprinted away from the whale's direction of travel until I was a good hundred yards away.
Was I being silly to basically flee? Are incidents of whales coming into physical contact with a kayak as rare as lightning strikes? Or are they pretty common if you paddle around whales a lot? (Are whales ever curious about kayakers? Or do they totally ignore them?) I just want to get a better handle on this so next time, I'll know whether I can totally relax and enjoy the show? Or run like hell?
Oh, and of course I did NOT get video or a photo. :-( Which almost makes me think I need to keep a mounted GoPro rolling all the time to actually capture something like that on video, LOL.