If you ever find yourself in a row boat traveling across the ocean and are suddenly surrounded by hundreds of whales, don’t do what this guy did.
Sure, that scenario sounds extremely far fetched, but it is exactly what Tom Waddington was facing on his extreme trip.
According to an NPR report, Waddington was attempting to row across the Atlantic Ocean in a small boat to help raise money for a charity called Mind, which supports mental health.
When he was about two hours into his long journey, he started to notice some whales swimming along with him.
Then he kept noticing more and more, until there were over a hundred of them all around him. He began recording them in a video he later posted to his Instagram.
In the video, Waddington narrated what was happening:
“Wow, that is so cool. I love it, but I’m scared they’re going to hit my rudder.”
He went on, explaining:
“They’re so close I can hear them. They’re blowing bubbles!” He continued, “What a special treat. I’ve seen loads of whales, but they’ve just come to say hello.”
When not engaging in extreme events like rowing across the ocean, Waddington is a ski instructor.
This amazing event will undoubtedly help to gain him lots of attention, and hopefully lots of funds for the Mind charity.
In the unlikely event that you ever find yourself in a similar situation, however, you should not continue rowing along and talking about the experience into your camera, according to Charlie Pitcher, Waddings coach.
Instead, you should always be quiet and still so the whales quickly lose interest and move on.
These whales are long-finned pilot whales.
This species of whales won’t typically attack people or boats, but they could have easily capsized the small vessel or caused other damage unintentionally.
You can watch this incredible event in the video below:
While beautiful, it is best to avoid whales while in a row boat.
Life lesson.
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