An unsuspecting surfer and a pair in kayaks were suddenly up close and extremely personal with a pair of enormous humpback whales which breached near them in waters off Santa Cruz, CA. It was not a hostile act on the part of the whales, just a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The surfer who had been floating near two people in kayaks, was very nearly unintentionally scooped up by a whale. A pod had been feeding on anchovies in the area, and their method of feeding is what put the surfer in danger. It happened that beneath the water where the three floated, a feeding frenzy or lunge feeding was in session far down below. Whales herd anchovies and shoot straight up out of the water with their mouth wide open to catch the fish – or anything else on the surface of the water!