A humpback whale breached and landed on the bow of a boat off Plymouth, Massachusetts, on Sunday.
Chad Hunter, the Plymouth harbormaster, said the incident occurred around 10 a.m. off White Horse Beach. The bow of the boat had some damage, but it was able to return to the boat ramp under its own power. No one was injured.
“The boat was in the right place at the wrong time,” Hunter told NBC10 Boston. “This could have been much worse for all involved.” (You can see the station’s pictures above.)
The harbormaster actually had crews monitoring the area after a whale bumped another boat on Friday. A lot of boats were fishing there over the weekend because of the abundance of bait fish, which also probably attracted the whales.
Hunter used the incident as a learning moment, urging boat captains to stay at least 100 yards away from whales. Read more:
