Durban – A KwaZulu-Natal surfer had the experience of a lifetime earlier this week when two humpback whales breached the surface and caused a huge splash in the area he was surfing along the South Coast.
Wez Singleton, who was surfing somewhere near Port Shepstone on Wednesday morning, said the two whales were roughly 60 metres away from where he was.
His dad, Anthony Singleton, and a friend, Paul Soper, who was standing ashore, captured the priceless moment on video.
According to Wez, he and another two friends were out surfing when his friends decided to paddle to shore.
Wez told IOL he stayed behind to catch a few more waves and saw the majestic sea creatures breach the surface.
“I actually heard them, that's how close they were. I got a bit of a fright. When I realised they were whales, I turned around and shouted for my mates to see these whales.
“I heard them breaching the water. I have never been that close to whales before to have that experience. It was nuts. They were like 30-40 metres away from where I was. I think they were past the shark nets.
“It sounded like a ton of concrete hit the water. It was such a big flippin' splash, I can't explain it really.
“As that happened a wave came through, and as I paddled to get the wave, I didn’t realise they caught it on video, but the whales jumped up behind me.
“When I get to the beach, he (Paul) tells me ‘bru, I got the craziest video of you’. When I saw the video I didn’t realise that they popped up again,” Wez said.
His dad, Anthony said it happened between 9am and 10am.
Anthony said his son’s friends had come out of the water and were checking messages on their phones when they saw the whales breach.
“I was like woah! I surf as well and you see whales out there but you don’t see them breaching like that. I was really taken aback because we go there often. We have a cottage down there and we don’t often see whales that close,” Anthony said.
On Friday, IOL spoke to the KZN Sharks Board who said they were 99% sure the pair were humpback whales.
IOL