When naturalist and photographer Heather MacIntyre boarded a Legacy Charters boat for an afternoon of whale watching near Canada's Vancouver Island, she never expected she'd need a change of clothes. But a notoriously boat-friendly humpback known as "Windy" had other plans. The hour-long encounter that followed was special for everyone, including the whale, who remained happily unharassed.
"I really want to touch her right now, but I can't! It's illegal!" shouted MacIntyre in arguably the cutest whale-induced 'squee' we've ever heard. Clearly, she knows her stuff. Touching a whale in the US violates the Marine Mammal Protection Act, a crime punishable by fines and jail time.
Windy positioned herself alongside the boat (which had stopped, motor off, nearly 200 yards away) and repeatedly blew hot, slimy plumes of stinky whale breath at the tourists. "We laughed and yelled with joy," recalls MacIntyre. "And she seemed to enjoy herself as well. The more fun we had, the more she'd blow!" The whale's powerful gusts even knocked a smartphone off a selfie stick (10 points for Windy!) and into the sea.
An hour and several celebratory breaches later, the whale went on her way, but the experience is one the crew will never forget. "At that moment, we were all her biggest fans," says MacIntyre. You would have thought we were at a sporting event the way we lit up in cheers when she crashed at the surface of the water."
Top header image: Scott Moore/Flickr
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