A young female humpback whale provided tourists off Canada’s west coast with a close encounter they will not forget. Whale-watching tours are popular in the area and a group from Washington state was cruising Canadian waters near the city of Victoria when they spotted the whale.
“A fairly young female, perhaps five years old, I don’t think it was fully grown yet, she just stayed around the boat for an hour swimming underneath the boat, spy-hopping next to us, looking at us,” said Jim Maya, who runs Maya’s Westside Whale Watching on San Juan Island.
“We saw its fluke as it went underneath the boat, and of course everyone was thrilled, amazed, a little concerned,” said Maya.
A passenger recorded the close encounter on video and posted it on line.
Maya says the whale, nicknamed Wendy, will most likely head for Hawaii, where humpbacks gather every winter to breed.
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