PLETTENBERG BAY NEWS - Two boarders from the Plettenberg Bay area were captured on drone footage having a close encounter of a whale kind off Keurbooms on Thursday 3 August - and a whale "kissed" one of them.
The video of the two having a blast with Blotchy the whale and her teenage calf, was taken by William Lilford at the Waves Beach at Keurbooms.
The footage has since gone viral. "I'm getting calls from Canada, Alaska and Australia," said Malcolm Solomon, a well-known sculptor from Plett, known to his friends as "Salty". Solomon says he sang to Blotchy while on the water and when she approached him she rubbed her snout against him.
"I sang to her making very positive sounds… and then she kissed me," said Solomon.
He and his boarding buddy, Jeffrey Westwood, a Keurbooms property practitioner, were captured alongside Blotchy, a mother Southern right whale given her name because of her distinct white skin, who was obviously protecting her teenage offspring during the sequence. The video was taken with a drone.
Solomon is seen gliding towards two whales. The larger whale, Blotchy, her white skin prominent, touches his board with her snout. Solomon gets off his board and floats, holding onto his board.
Blotchy and her teenager swim away towards Westwood on his white board and pass close to him. Blotchy turns around and goes underneath Westwood, then breaks surface, swirls back and brushes Westwood's board with her snout.
Solomon approaches on his board and Blotchy turns around and passes underneath, flicking her tail, splashing the water, just missing Westwood and dislodging Solomon from his board.
The whales then swim away. Westwood said Blotchy is an old girl that has been visiting for 30-odd years. "She definitely knows me," he said. "The other is most probably her teenage offspring. It's a memory I will take with me to my grave… but hopefully not very soon…"
"It was a blast," said Solomon, who said he had a more intense interaction with whales before, but there was no drone to capture the moment. "What's special about this is that it was caught on film," he said.
Charlie Lilford, of Ocean Blue, the uncle of the drone pilot, said he has been in the business of whale watching for over 20 years. "I have never seen such interaction before. It's incredible."
Plett sculptor Malcolm "Salty" Solomon next to one of his sculptures, a humpback whale and calf, at his studio in Plett. Photo: Chris van Gass
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