Watch: Whale whips its tail at diver as it protects calf in close call
A free diver in Australia was practicing deep dives and breath holds when a mother humpback whale and its calf came swimming by.
As it passed, the mother whale gave Mitch Capelli a definitive message by taking a swipe at him with its tail.
“Whoa, it tried to hit me,” Capelli says in the video. “Hooly, dooly, that was close…Whoa. Nearly got me with its tail.”
Capelli posted the video of the encounter in Western Australia on YouTube and Instagram.
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“We weren’t chasing whales, it swam directly past me,” Capelli explained on his Instagram post. “I think I spotted it before it spotted me, hence the tail warning in protection of her calf. Truly an amazing experience.”
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Capelli also related that he and Jackson Beasley had just speared their first Spanish mackerel, had them secured on the gunnels of the jet ski “and the vibes were high.”
“We were practicing some deep dives and breath holds off the ski, when these two beauties cruised on past,” Capelli wrote.
“This is what makes me feel most alive.”
