Paddle Boarder Gets The Surprise of a Lifetime in Hawaii
Hawaii — Incredible Easter Day footage from the waters off of the North Shore of Oahu where local waterman Eric Sterman was filming a routine downwind foil-boarding run when he got an unexpected marine mammal cameo.
As Sterman rode along a shadow moved beneath the surface of the churning water before a massive whale tail suddenly breached. Sterman kept his balance in an incredible feat of poise but you can see from the expression on his face that this encounter was actually quite scary in the moment:
“It’s crazy how massive whales are but actually hard to spot while downwinding in choppy conditions! This guy scared me I’m not gonna lie and the sound of it slapping its tail doesn’t do it justice in person was crazy. Passing whales is actually super common but just so happen to have camera rolling to capture this moment!”
While close encounters with marine mammals are not uncommon in this area of the ocean, they usually happen during the winter months which added to the element of surprise.
Hawaii, it is required by law to stay at least 100 yards away from humpback whales by boat or swimming and Sterman was well within that radius but sometimes these types of close run-ins are equal part unavoidable and magical. Pardon the pun but this dude had a “whale of a story” to tell when he got back to shore and the video evidence to back it up!
Here’s Eric with another incredible encounter on the North Shore, this time with False Killer Whales:
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