Have you ever gone whale watching and realllllyyy wished you were closer to the magical ocean giants? Well Cimeron Morrissey got her wish recently while kayaking in Monterey Bay, California when a giant humpback whale, which she describes as "bus-sized" surfaced next to her kayak.
Morrissey was in the bay watching a big raft of sea lions:
To the right of Morrissey, about 10 feet away she says, the whale appears, then dives under her kayak: Morrissey said: "He dove under my kayak, which was amazing and exhilarating! But then his back arched and came to the surface about 3 inches from my boat, which freaked me out a bit."
These whales can be more than 50 feet long and weigh approximately 79,000 pounds. That's one big animal.
Watch that giant tail, which Morrissey notes was about 12 inches from her face:
Another whale briefly surfaced near her companions' kayak as well: As Morrissey notes: "We were NOT kayaking toward the whales and it is not advisable - nor is it legal - to do so. It's important to respect whales and just let them be."
Watch the entire video, uploaded by Cimeron Morrissey to YouTube back in July. Her reaction is priceless, and slightly NSFW: