A kayaker’s too-close-for-comfort encounter with a breaching orca was not only captured in a series of photos by his daughter, but he shot video of the stunning scene he called “the most amazing animal experience of my life!”
On Saturday, Ken Heinrich spotted a pod of orcas from the deck of a beach house in Gartley Beach in the Comox area of Vancouver Island, British Columbia. After taking a few photos and videos, Heinrich and his daughters climbed into kayaks and paddled out to get a closer look as the sun set on the horizon.
“We were simply drifting when the pod came towards us and at one point circled around to the shore side of us,” Heinrich wrote in his YouTube description. “The most amazing animal experience of my life!” And here’s why:
“We were able to get some amazing pictures along with video of the tail slapping and breaching,” Heinrich told The Record, according to the Surrey Now-Leader. “At one point the orca sounded and ended up beside us where the bull male (who someone has now identified) breached literally right in front of me. I was lucky enough to be filming at the exact same location as the breach.”
As the water calms, Heinrich says in the video, “Oh my goodness, my heart,” which was no doubt pumping from adrenaline.
At the same time, daughter Kalyssa captured a series of photos of the close encounter as featured on the Global News post and the Surrey Now-Leader.
