‘Spiritual and moving.’ Whale shows off for boating class in North Carolina, photos show
A whale put on quite a show for a group of boaters in North Carolina last week.
Kevin Hennessey of Wilmington told McClatchy News he was teaching a US Powerboat Training class to a couple off Southport on Tuesday when he saw the whale.
He mentioned to the couple that people had recently seen a whale in the area but that he “didn’t think much of it.”
But while the group was near Bald Head Island practicing, Hennessey said a “huge” pod of dolphins appeared.
Then, just as the group was about to head back around 4 p.m., they saw a “huge splash” in the shipping channel and headed toward it.
Suddenly a humpback whale briefly popped out of the water, Hennessey said.
The whale then dropped back down and didn’t come up for a while. Hennessey said they could see it in the distance but were careful not to get too close.
“All of a sudden, (it) breached and came completely out of the water,” he said.
He said the whale hung around the boat for about 40 minutes before the group headed back to Southport — coming within 2 feet of the boat and looking “right at” him at one point.
Hennessey captured video of the whale coming near the boat.
The group also saw the whale slap its tail.
Hennessey said the whale was “just as interested” in them as they were in it and that it was “just playing” and “just having fun.”
He estimates the whale was between 30 and 35 feet.
Ryan McAlarney, assistant husbandry curator at the North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher, confirmed with local TV station WWAY that it was a humpback whale.
“Regional and local partners are aware the animal(s) are in the area and have been monitoring,” an aquarium spokeswoman told the TV station.
Humpback whales can grow to up to 60 feet long and can weigh up to 40 tons, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. They live in “all oceans around the world.”
“They travel great distances every year and have one of the longest migrations of any mammal on the planet,” NOAA says. Some populations swim 5,000 miles from tropical breeding grounds to colder, more productive feeding grounds.”
They migrate south each fall, with many passing by North Carolina’s beaches. In the spring, they migrate back north, again passing through North Carolina waters.
But Hennessey said he’s been teaching sailing and power boating in Southport for 16 years and had “never seen anything like this.”
He said seeing the whale last week was a “spiritual and moving” experience.
“It was truly amazing to see the power yet graceful beauty of this gentle giant,” he wrote on Facebook.
This story was originally published April 25, 2021 at 3:28 PM with the headline "‘Spiritual and moving.’ Whale shows off for boating class in North Carolina, photos show."
