[Paddlewise] whale risks

It strikes me as quite risky to be paddling amongst


whales.  Equivilent perhaps to diving amongst sharks. 


Would this be a fair comparison?  I know next to


nothing about whale behavior.  


Tom Dowling





    Yes I will admit that there is a risk in being close to whales, after all
40 tons of mass is a lot. However The Humpback whales I have encountered have
never shown any aggression. The Orca's I have seen have totally ignored me.


    By the way I don't aggressively chase whales, it is just that where I
paddle at certain times of the year there are lots of them. Last friday my
friend and I just hung out in a certain area and the whales came to us.  


    I was nearly hit by a whale two years ago. Two whales were passing just in
front of me when a third whale joined them. when he surfaced about 20 yards to
my left he saw me and did a jack-knife dive to avoid me (thank God)


    In the last couple years there have been two possible whale collisions
between power boats and whale which resulted in the death of three people.
this in all speculation since no one survived. The "evidence" being that
whatever happened happened fast and neither crew were able to radio for help.
A third collison did hospitalize three people last year. I talked to the pilot
and he confirmed it was a humpback he hit. 


    I did read a couple of years ago of a kayaker getting tossed out of his
boat by a gray whale in baja. He accidently got between her and her calf and
she aggressively rammed him. After he was in the water she left him alone.


    If the weather allows I will be out there again friday. An hopefully come
back with another tail to tell about whales


Bob


Sitka


    


 





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