Humpback 'mugging' amazes whale watchers on B.C. boat tour

Nick Templemanhas had plenty ofcloseencounters with whales in his nearlytwo decades running whale-watching tours from Campbell River, B.C., but last weekend, he and his guests got a special surprise.

Templeman, owner of Campbell River Whale and Bear Excursions, was near the south end of Quadra Island when a humpback whale came right up to his boat, swimming around and under it for nearly 90 minutes.

This type of behaviour is often referred to as a "mugging" by those in the industry. It's when a whale comes close to a boat and spends an extended amount of time interactingwith people.

"It feels like a mugging, it does. It really does," Templeman said.

"You could see his big eye looking at us. It was pretty incredible."

Templeman says the whale was directly under the boat for most of the time.

"You could tell throughout the whole thinghe was very spatially aware, too. Almost like he knew what he was doing."

Templemanlater found out that this particular whale known as Two Spothas done this repeatedly on the coast over the past couple of years.

Listen to the full interview with Nick Templeman:

With files from All Points West

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