In an absolutely terrifying video shot near Moss Landing in Monterey, California on Saturday, a gigantic humpback whale can be seen leaping out of the ocean and narrowly miss landing right on top of two kayakers enjoying the water. The near-accident was caught on camera by whale-watcher Larry Plants, who was filming the animals calmly swimming and feeding in between the boats when, unexpectedly, he caught one flying up into the air. The resulting splash was enough to knock the boaters right out of the kayak and presumably scar them for life.
Despite nearly getting crushed to death, the kayakers appeared to be in relatively good spirits and without serious injury in still-photos that can be seen at the end of the video.
SanctuaryCruises.com posted the video to the web and said in the video’s description on YouTube:
Humpbacks were coming up next to and in the middle of many kayakers. It was amusing. It’s all fun and games until someone gets jumped on. The next thing we knew, this thing launched right on top of these two kayakers. That was heavy.
Kayakers who are going out into the middle of the ocean like that with such little protection have to know the risks ahead of time. With that being said, it’s hard to imagine that anyone expects a whale to jump out of the water like that and come crashing down with its full weight. Chalk it us as part of the adventure.