And eating it.
But that is what happened to the two on August 29. Dag was at their beach-front home on Lasqueti, on the east coast of Vancouver Island in the Straight of Georgia, when he spotted orca whales a ways out in the water.
He and his wife Maria decided to leap on their paddle boards and go out and have a closer look. Soon enough they were right in the thick of some frenzied action, with the whales breaching and churning about in the water around them.
Whale feeding frenzy
Maria told CBC News that they didn’t know when or even where the whales would come up next and her husband said it was a nerve-wracking being on a mere paddle board while the big orcas hunted and ate right before their eyes.
They doubtless got a strong sense of why orcas are also called killer whales. But Maria said that they weren’t all that worried because it was clear the whales were busy, which might explain why she had the presence of mind to film the encounter.
She told the CBC that it was “obvious they were occupied and staying with something, diving on one spot.”
Dag said getting that close was not intended and just a “fluke” and a lucky one at that. “Suddenly I saw a swirl in the water and a split second later all the water around me was in turmoil and I see these fins slicing through the water just a few feet ahead of me,” he said.
“I got down on my hands and knees on my paddle board as much as in awe as it was to stabilize,” he added. “The paddle board felt like such a fragile thing to be on with all that flesh being ripped around me.”
Satisfied with their meal of seal, the killer whales went upon their way and Dag and Maria went back to shore with a tale to tell and video to prove it.
