A paddleboarding enthusiast has had a “once-in-a-lifetime” close encounter after coming nose-to-nose with a humpback whale.
Kevin Williams, who lives in Anchorage, Alaska, was out on his board when a huge humpback whale came right up in front of him before going for a swim under his board.
It is thought the whale was a female, which can weigh up to around 70,000 pounds, and measure around 49 feet in length.
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It was spotted in the Prince William Sound at the time, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game said.
Mr Williams explained: “It’s just so massive – you’re puny against this whale.
“If you have a whale that doesn’t know you were there and is that close, that’s not a good situation, and it surfaced right in front of me, coming towards me.
“One flick of the animal’s fin or anything it does could be the end of my life.
“If I fell down, you know, my feet could have easily been on that whale – tickling that whale or whatever."
Williams, his son Brian and a couple other friends had seen the whale in the ford, which is about two miles wide, a few minutes before it appeared in front of them.
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Williams said he was slower than his friends, who were about 200 feet ahead of him, as the whale began to approach his friends – but they were close to the shoreline so he figured the whale would run out of room and reverse course.
He thought he was in the safest spot since he was trailing the group.
The whale went underwater for about 45 seconds, longer than he had noticed it dive before, and as the whale slipped below the water again and turned on its side, he could see the white of its belly slowly gliding underneath.
He reckons that it was around one metre below the surface.
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The whale’s pectoral fin was sticking a few feet out of the water, and Williams feared the creature might flip over as it swam below him, or he might topple off the board and land on its stomach.
But as the whale passed under him “there was hardly any turbulence, and I didn’t get wet,” he said, adding that it’s rare for people to get hurt by whales.
Still, the experience won’t keep Williams off the water.
“I’ll never stop, and this is once in a lifetime,” he said.
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