Pair of Gray Whales Treats Whale Watchers to Rare Show
Two playful whales came very close to a whale watching vessel in Santa Barbara, California, and treated passengers to a show of rainbows created from their spouting.
Video filmed by Alexander Legaspi, a whale watch vessel captain, shows two gray whales swim close to the boat and spout water from the blowholes. Ecstatic passengers cheer and laugh as the whales breach to the backdrop of the temporary rainbows.
“What started as a typical whale watch, turned in to the show of a lifetime,” said Legaspi. “For over an hour, the whales approached mere inches from the hull of the “Sunfish” as they rolled, spy-hopped and even blew bubbles at us,” he added.
Legaspi told Storyful that this was an extremely rare encounter and this was his first time witnessing such behavior. Credit: @alexander_legaspi via Storyful
Video transcript
[INDISTINCT CHATTER]
- Wow.
[INDISTINCT CHATTER]
- You can see its eye.
- [LAUGHS] [INAUDIBLE]
- Holy crap.
- God.
- Oh, my god.
[INDISTINCT CHATTER]
[LAUGHTER]
- Oh, my. [LAUGHS] Oh, my god. You can see its eye.
[INDISTINCT CHATTER]
Oh, my god. Oh, my god. Oh, my god.
[LAUGHTER]
[EXCLAIMS] Yeah!
- [INAUDIBLE]
[CHEERING, LAUGHTER]
- Yeah!
- Oh.
- Oh, my god.
- What's up, buddy?
- [INAUDIBLE]
- Yeah!
[INDISTINCT CHATTER]
Oh, my god.
- [INAUDIBLE]
- This is wild.
- The other one's coming up. Other one's coming up.
- Oh, yeah. Just behind you.
- [INAUDIBLE]
- Oh, my god.
[EXCLAIMING, LAUGHTER]
- Yeah!
- [INAUDIBLE]
- Yes! Yes!
- Wow.
- Oh. Oh.
- Thank you so much.
- Crew's [INAUDIBLE]
[LAUGHTER]
You know it's a good day when the crew's happy. [LAUGHS]
- Ooh.
- [INAUDIBLE]
- Sure.
[LAUGHTER]
- I don't doubt that. I took a step off of this, I--
[INTERPOSING VOICES]
- Yeah!
- Six inches long.
