Woman and Dog in Boat Have Close Encounter With Whale: ‘Is This Real Life?’
A video of an "absolutely magical" rainbow captured during a whale sighting has left users on TikTok in awe, and the woman who shot the footage was so amazed, she asked: "Is this real life."
The mesmerizing moment was captured on August 28 by Vancouver-based Danielle Sampson ( on TikTok) in the western part of the city. Sampson told Newsweek: "This was taken in front of the marina where I keep my boat. I was boating around that day."
The video has amassed over 92,000 views since it was posted on TikTok on August 29, shows a dog on a boat looking out towards the water. A rainbow later appears just after a whale was seen spouting, which is when it exhales air through its blowhole.
Sampson says in the video: "Oh my god ... and there's a rainbow from the spray. Is this real life?"
The poster said she noticed that the whale was "following" their boat and "we turned off our motor and watched it," she said. "It kept being very active and splashing its tail, so we turned on the motor to leave for the whale's safety."
While it may look as if the whale is spraying water, what's actually happening is that the whale's "strong exhaled breath" is shooting small water droplets into the air, "which looks as if a big spray of steam coming from the top of their head," says The Marine Mammal Center.
'Absolutely Magical'
"I see whales often but not this close," Sampson said, noting that she been swimming with whales before as a freediver.
In a caption shared with the video, the poster warned: "Do not chase the animals please. I want to stress that the whales came directly to us. We had our motor on to leave the whale alone, as it appeared to be following us and for the sake of the whale's safety, we left the area so the whale could be in peace."
TikTok users were blown away by the moment captured in the TikTok clip.
User jOppa said "Absolutely magical" and Jayme Clark wrote "That's incredible!!"
LDT04 wrote "Wow so lucky!!" and Jeremy noted "How's this real life!? ..."this is sooo beautiful," said colbytravels.
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This story was originally published September 23, 2024, 11:40 AM.
