PLYMOUTH, MASS. (WHDH) - A paddleboarder got a story to tell for a lifetime and a photographer snapped a shot to prove it after a humpback whale passed through Plymouth.
Mike Manfredi said there had been plenty of activity at Manomet Point over the past week, where fishermen spotted massive schools of fish, followed by seals and whales.
He told 7NEWS he wanted to get a close look for himself on Sunday morning, and took off on a paddleboard to do just that, finding schools of fish as big as football fields before he saw the main attraction.
“As I was going out, I could see a couple of little humps moving amongst the boat and said ‘oh, the whales are here,” Manfredi said. “So, I’m like, alright, game on!”
Soon, the fish were coming up and out of the water as the mouth of a whale emerged, scooping them up in the process.
The whale came within 25 to 30 feet of Manfredi in a moment he called one of the best things to ever happen to him, and it was caught on camera.
Photographer Craig Picariello was on hand to capture the moment the whale splashed down near Manfredi.
Picariello said he saw the paddleboarder and the whales moving in the water, but could not believe he captured the shot at just the right moment.
“I came home and I put them on my laptop and I said to my wife – you gotta see these,” Picariello said. “I can’t believe I took that picture… I mean, there’s three (whales) out there and I don’t know which one is breaching and it’s just, did I catch it at the right moment?”
Manfredi said he lives for this time of the year and being out on his paddleboard, and he told 7NEWS the close encounter was one he will not soon forget.
“Just incredible, something you don’t see that close, maybe from a distance, on a paddleboard,” he said. “It’s just, one of my best things that’s ever happened in my life. It was just great.”
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