Video: Humpback whale gets up close and personal with canoers

A couple on vacation in Hawaii thought a leisurely canoe ride would be fun and relaxing, never once thinking they would meet a humpback whale up close and personal.

The Arizona couple and some friends decided to take a nice vacation in paradise, visiting Maui. According to KXAN, the group decided to take a canoe trip and after paddling a few hundred yards off shore, a humpback whale appeared out of nowhere, coming out of the water and striking the canoe. The front of the canoe lurches upward as the whale continues underneath. Then, as soon as the whale appeared, it was gone again. Laurent Lebihant, who was filming the canoe ride when the whale appeared, said everyone was in a bit of shock after the incident, saying: "We just looked around and said 'Did that really happen?' Good thing it was an adolescent whale and nothing bad happened." According to KHON, the whale did not appear to be injured during the incident and the group managed to make it back to shore without any more close encounters of the sea life kind.