READ ISLAND, British Columbia -- Some kayakers in Canada had an amazing close encounter while out on the water coming face-to-face with some humpback whales, and it was all caught on video.
A dozen kayakers were paddling near Read Island in between Quadra and Cortez islands when they were treated to the show of a lifetime.
The group was on a five day expedition and had heard there was a mother humpback and her calf in the area. They paddled over for a viewing.
"They were just kind of floating there on top of the water for the longest time. Some guests had binoculars out. Some telephoto. And then we saw the tail flip go down and we assumed that was the end of the show." said Damon Stapinsky of Wildcoast Adventures.
"When baby came up, I actually said to the group -- all right guys, back paddle -- even though she wasn't even close to us. But when momma come up, that was shortly after it was apparent that we needed to get back and get back fast," said Stapinsky.
"They do it when they're excited and you can see in the video that when baby breached, it probably had a good feeding. They were really happy. She got everything she needed, or he. And so then the baby comes shooting out of the water and mom's just as excited."
Kayakers have been sometimes criticized for getting too close to humpbacks. The quadra island operator is also getting some pushback about his group's encounter but says they were following the rules.
"We stayed back 100 meters. If you were in a powerboat and they started to come toward you or you know they were coming toward you, you could very quickly put the motor on and back off. In a kayak, you can't back off that fast. They can swim way faster than we can paddle."
