'At the mercy of this whale': B.C. couple had dinghy lifted by humpback during hours-long encounter
A Vancouver couple was in awe and a bit scared during an hours-long encounter with a whale on B.C.'s Central Coast.
Evan Lee-Dodek and Sofia Carroll said they were fishing in Toba Inlet Friday when they saw a humpback whale.
The whale was about 100 metres away, they told CTV News in an interview Monday, but they still turned off the engine of their dinghy to avoid disturbing the giant.
The whale headed their way, they said, swimming under their dinghy and sticking close by for about two hours.
They were scared but couldn't leave, because they didn't want to put the motor down when the whale was so close.
At one point, the whale actually lifted their boat and swam with it. While they were amazed, they were also worried the humpback might puncture the boat's hull.
"Once it also got used to us, it started slapping the boat around and being more playful, and that's kind of when it got more scary," Carroll said, describing the "rollercoaster of emotions" they went through during those hours.
"What was more nerve-wracking was when it would slap the boat with its fins. We're in a dingy. It's inflated around the outside and (the whale has) these huge barnacles on its fins and it's hitting the boat. I was pretty stressed out," Lee-Dodek said.
"Here we are so far away from anything in a really deep fjord, so vulnerable, just at the mercy of this whale."
The whale did do some damage, albeit minor, to the underside of the boat.
The couple said it was a small price to pay for the experience.
Humpback whales have been making a comeback in recent years in B.C. waters after being hunted to near-extinction in the early 1900s.
According to Jackie Hildering, the whales in the video are known to the Marine Education & Research Society.
“There are two humpback whales shown in this encounter: KC, who I nicknamed when he was a first year with his mother, Houdini, in 2002, and Eros, who is a whale newly documented this year," Hildering said in an email to CTV News. "Eros is the whale who is closest to the boat.”
MERS describes the behaviour seen in the video, and the possible reasoning for it, in a blog post on its website from 2018. The post also explains concerns related to human behaviour in these situations.
The group reminded the public that touching a whale is an illegal act under the federal Marine Mammal Regulation, and said that its hope is the video doesn't encourage others to try to do the same thing.
Fisheries and Oceans Canada outlines laws and regulations on its website, and offers guidance for what to do to avoid disturbing marine mammals.
With an interview from CTV News Vancouver's Cameron Mitchell
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Grandparent scam: London, Ont., senior beats fraudsters not once, but twice
It was a typical Tuesday for Mabel Beharrell, 84, until she got the call that would turn her world upside down. Her teenaged grandson was in trouble and needed her help.
Deaths of 4 people on Sask. farm confirmed as murder-suicide
The deaths of four people on a farm near the Saskatchewan village of Neudorf have been confirmed a murder-suicide.
CRA no longer requiring 'bare trust' reporting in 2023 tax return
The Canada Revenue Agency announced Thursday it will not require 'bare trust' reporting from Canadians that it introduced for the 2024 tax season, just four days before the April 2 deadline.
Full parole granted to man convicted in notorious 'McDonald's murders' in Cape Breton
The Parole Board of Canada has granted full parole to one of three men convicted in the brutal murders of three McDonald's restaurant workers in Cape Breton more than 30 years ago.
Incident on Calgary's Reconciliation Bridge comes to safe resolution
Nearly 20 hours after a man climbed and remained perched on top of the Reconciliation Bridge in downtown Calgary, the situation came to a peaceful resolution.
Sunshine list: These were the Ontario public sector's highest earners in 2023
Ontario released its annual sunshine list Thursday afternoon, noting that the largest year-over-year increases were in hospitals, municipalities, and post-secondary sectors.
George Washington family secrets revealed by DNA from unmarked 19th century graves
Genetic analysis has shed light on a long-standing mystery surrounding the fates of U.S. President George Washington's younger brother Samuel and his kin.
'We won't forget': How some Muslims view Poilievre's stance on Israel-Hamas war
A spokesman for a regional Muslim advocacy group says Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre's stance on the Israel-Hamas war could complicate his party's relationship with Muslim Canadians.
Why some Christians are angry about Trump's 'God Bless the USA' Bible
Former U.S. President Donald Trump is officially selling a copy of the Bible themed to Lee Greenwood’s famous song, 'God Bless the USA.' But the concept of a Bible covered in the American flag has raised concern among religious circles.