Aleks Mount was whale watching with his family on Tuesday, northeast of Campbell River, when the whale became friendly. When they first spotted the humpback about 100 meters away, Mount said he immediately shut down his engine, intending to keep his distance. But the whale dove under the water only to reappear less than a minute later under their boat. Mount said he and his family were at first terrified by the creature, which he described as the size of a school bus. “All he has to do is turn his tail and the boat will be in the air.” Mount’s video shows the whale twisting and turning just inches from the boat, occasionally spraying them from its hole. “I could just touch it. It was just gently rubbing against the boat, go under, come out,” said Mount, who has been an avid whale watcher for about four years. Mount realized that he could not escape as he did not know how the whale would react to the sudden sound of the engine and was worried that the boat’s propeller might cut the whale. So they watched and waited. Aleks Mount is pictured with the friendly humpback whale just meters away from their boat. (Alex Mount) Fortunately, Mount said, the whale only hit the boat once with its fin, leaving a slight bend in the boat’s railing and a few minor scratches. A marine expert later identified the humpback on Mount Oros as a young male named Neowise. Mount said they are very lucky the whale was so aware of its body and didn’t do more damage. “I’m going to forget my name and who I am before I forget it … it felt really special to share that moment,” Mount said.
Gentle giants
Andrew Trites, director of the marine mammal research unit at the University of British Columbia, said that while he’s heard a few recent reports of humpbacks entangled with boats, this is the closest he’s seen. “Nothing so special as that,” said Trites. Trites believes the whale may have been attracted by the boat’s sounder – a device that measures the depth of water beneath a boat by emitting sound. This high-frequency noise is similar to the sound whales use to communicate, according to Trites. “For the humpback whale, that seems to be another living thing that’s almost its own size, it’s something that it can interact with,” Trites said. The humpback flapped its flippers and tails several times, only hit the boat once and left minor scratches, Aleks Mount said. (Alex Mount) Mount confirmed that the sonar was on before the boat was shut down when it spotted the whale. Trites said the whales may not have full control over where their tail and fins fall, causing a potentially dangerous situation. “These are gentle giants, but they can do a lot of damage unintentionally… it could be potentially lethal,” Trites said. Trites said baleen whales were hunted almost to extinction about a century ago and have only begun to reappear off BC’s coast in the last 20 years. As people encounter more whales, Trites said education is crucial to developing a relationship of mutual respect with the creatures. He advises boats to keep their distance — turning off a boat’s sonar sounder could be one way to do that, he said — and to go slow when they spot a whale.
Whale are you mine?
It is typical for young male humpbacks to engage in playful behavior, according to Trites. He said that while these humpback whales mate in the winter when they travel South, young males often spend time practicing their love songs before mating season. “It may very well have been that this young male was actually singing on the boat,” Trites said. “They have to practice with someone, why not a boat?”
