Fishing Trip Turns into Whale Watching Close Encounter

Occurred on February 17, 2019 / Port Canaveral, Florida, USA

Info from Licensor: "We were fishing off of Port Canaveral about 9-10 miles out. It was 9:18 am on Sunday. We saw a swirl in the water and some birds in the area so we thought it might be fish. We started rigging up our lines when all of a sudden, we hear a loud exhale. We look up and there was a Northern Right Whale, 30’ away coming right towards us. Without knowing the whale's exact whereabouts and not wanting to hurt the whale with our propeller, we froze! Within seconds, the calf comes up to the boat, looks up at us, swims back to the other side of the boat and continues to repeat that process 4 or 5 times. Then the whale takes off. On my Fishfinder, I was marking a lot of ‘fish’ the entire time, which can be heard beeping. I believe the momma right whale was under us the entire time. When the calf left us, we watched it swim away. When it does, the mom pops up as well!"