• A startling set of videos show a humpback whale breaching the surface of the water off the California coast and nearly swallowing two kayakers.
  • Julie McSorley and Liz Cottriel were whale-watching in a tandem kayak near the shore of Avila Beach on Monday when they found themselves swarmed by a massive pool of fish.
  • McSorley, who was filming the whales on her phone, told Fox26 News she saw one of the humpbacks approach until it was “right here in my face. Literally.”
  • “All of a sudden, I lifted up, and I was in the water,” McSorley said. “I’m thinking I’m dead. That’s what I thought. I’m dead. Because I thought he was going to land on me.”
  • One video taken from a few feet away shows the humpback breach from underneath the kayak, with its mouth narrowly missing the vessel as it flipped over.
  • McSorley’s video simply shows a blur of blue and yellow as the whale capsizes the kayak, while the two women scream.
  • McSorley said both women were assisted by nearby paddle boarders and kayakers, who rushed to their aid thinking the whale swallowed the kayak, though it hadn’t.
  • The only casualty from the incident was McSorley’s car keys, she said.
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