It's Not Just Orcas

[PippaB]

This one is from the Pacific 9 or 10 years ago, the kayakers actually ended up in the whale's mouth for a moment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3X2C46--2lY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBrChg6clPE

[hpeer]

Believe it or not I’ve seen 14’ Boston Whalers 6 miles off shore.

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by JPA Cate

Thanks, guys. You're right, apparently not an attack, I actually found the repeated video made it look like an attack and not a common breeching; and I think humpbacks are baleen whales: filter feeders, so the notion of it chasing fish out of the water is sorta odd...

And good on the guys for rescuing the men from the water.

Ann

Originally Posted by hpeer

Balene but yes they eat sardines and capline.

In spring, summer and autumn, humpback whales [Megaptera novaeangliae] feed on a wide range of schooling fish species and euphausiids, depending upon what is locally available at a given time.

There are 14 species of baleen whale, including the humpback, blue, bowhead, right, minke, and gray whale.

All baleen whales have baleen, instead of teeth, which they use to collect shrimp-like krill, plankton, and small fish, from the sea. These bristly baleen plates filter, sift, sieve, or trap the whales’ favourite prey, from seawater, inside their mouths.

Gulp feeders, like humpback, fin and minke whales, engulf a large mouthful of food and water, close the mouth part way and, with the tongue, force the water back out through the baleen. The food cannot pass through the baleen and is swallowed whole. Long, parallel grooves, or pleats, run the length of the throat, allowing the throat to distend – almost like the pouch of a pelican (baleen whales with these “rorqual grooves” are classified together as rorqual whales, such as fin and humpback whales). This feeding style works well with schools of small fish or large plankton.

The humpback is known for breaching, and other distinctive surface behaviors, making it popular with whale watchers.

[desodave]

We cruise in waters that are well populated by whales, both Orcas and Humpbacks. We're just back from 10 days out and had 6 Humpie sightings, the closest less than the prescribed 200m away. The Humpies are a hazard because they are oblivious to surface activity ie boats and they do not travel in straight lines as Orcas do, so can be quite unpredictable in their movement. Gord is accurate about their feeding activity. You learn to look for things like congregations of birds on the surface ... likely means a school of small fish near the surface ... keep clear, feeding Humpie could be next to appear. I've never heard of one "attacking" a boat, but lots of close calls from breaching.

[Don C L]

Yep, they were fishing among schooling baitfish it looks like, as were the whales. That's not an adult Humpback, but big enough. I've had them surface near me just after I saw a ring of bubbles hit the surface. It's pretty alarming, but they were not breaching as high as this one was. I think the lesson is, stay out of the way of feeding humpbacks, no matter how good you think the fishing may be.

[PippaB]

Here's a shot of some humpbacks bringing a herring ball to the surface. You would not want to be in your boat above them when they come up. This one was presaged, as desodave says, by the flock of birds above and the bubble streams rising from below.

[Shaneesprit]

You are in the ocean, and occasionally a boat bumps into a fish and sometimes a fish bumps into a boat.
Why is this a surprise?
Orcas just use boats as training devices for their young.

[Seabeau]

Some few years ago, a family filmed a young humpback whale breaching in the very shallow waters of St. Catherine's Sound, in GA. It must have been asking for directions.

[JPA Cate]

5 posts have been deleted for being off topic or quoting deleted posts.
Please keep posts focused on thread topics, and do not drift off into political discussion. There are other venues for that. CF is for subjects related to cruising and sailing.

[barnakiel]

Aaaaargggghhhhh

[boatman61]

Seems Orca are not the only ones who destroy 'rudders'..

A gray whale successfully migrated from Alaska to Mexico without its tail fin. Another humpback whale was spotted off the coast of Vancouver Island with its tail missing, raising concerns about human impact on these animals. Fluker, a whale in the Mediterranean Sea, lost half of its tail, likely due to a boat collision or entanglement in a drift net.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/...alls-112526635

[Searles]

Read the whale ship Essex ,probably the base for moby dick ,also a yacht had a whale land on it a few years ago,both were damaged .⚓️⛵️