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THE OCEAN — I feel like we've had cautionary tales about whales for centuries. There's Jonah and his run-in with the sea beast. We have Captain Ahab and his whole beef with that white whale. And, then there's Geppetto and Pinocchio, who basically pulled a Jonah 2.0.
Despite all these warnings, I still see videos like this. They are all sorts of impressive and incredible to behold, but I can't help but think Geppetto is flipping out somewhere, wondering why no one is listening.
This video was posted in 2020 by YouTuber Richard Sidey, a self-described conservation, adventure and wildlife filmmaker based in New Zealand.
In the description of this video, Sidey explains that he captured this video in Antarctica and calls this an "encounter of a lifetime." He's not wrong. Sidey doesn't just get close to this humpback whale — he literally gets eye-to-eye with it. I mean, right up in there, to the point it would be wildly uncomfortable if one human got that close to another human being. Not to mention, Sidey and this whale are complete strangers. Just imagine you're out for a nice walk and a stranger comes up to you with a camera and gets it inches away from your eyeball. From that perspective, this encounter went from incredible, to creepy.
Regardless, the video is amazing. But I can promise you I will never do this. One reason is the stories throughout centuries of being careful around whales. The other is, Sidey said this was in Antarctica. I scream like a scared child when someone flushes the toilet while I'm in the shower and the water goes cold. Even with all the fancy diving suits, I'm not sure I can go diving in those waters.
You can see the full version of Sidey's humpback whale production here.
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