Blue Whale Encounter in the Blue

Freediving offshore of San Diego and I found lots of fish, bait, and birds. Then this huge blue whale blows by me very swiftly. It is quite something to see the largest animal in the world at close quarters in the water.
You can read about our experience in the Spring 2014 issue of Spearing Magazine.

[@Druid75]

cool encounter, it must be scary to think an animal of that size just coming out of no where, its cool but scary

[@hypercane5652]

Chill man. Blue whales dont eat humans. They eat krill and/or small fish

[@jonathanm9986]

Hypercane Playz But what if it swallows you by mistake

[@hypercane5652]

@@jonathanm9986: you still would not make it into its stomach, Its throat is about the size of a beach ball

[@darthxerxes5468]

@@hypercane5652 yeah but you would be stuck inside of a whales mouth I would be terrified.

[@hypercane5652]

@@darthxerxes5468 I guess that would be terrifying. However, The chance of that happening is very little

[@zacharysylvester8349]

Must be so strange to one minute be with a duck... quite a common animal and then see a Blue whale swimming past you like that. Unbelievable! Very nice vid!

[@Guilhaz1]

It's a shearwater

[@superdinotv3298]

@@Guilhaz1 it kinda looked like a merganser to me

[@slambros8098]

... i would crap my pants...

[@ShawnaGraham50]

The clicking is the underwater way of saying "Holy Shit it's a Fucking Blue Whale!"

[@joedanns5678]

It's so great that all whale + dolphin species are returning to their pre-hunt populations. One day fairly soonish, the oceans will once again be filled with them. Dolphins and Whales are such graceful, spiritual and magnificent creatures.

[@playmoshi124]

I think you mean "Some Whales". Because Dolphins can be abseloute bastards.

[@playmoshi124]

And then again, there are some predatory Whales which feed on larger prey including (But not limited to) Sperm Whales and Orcas.

[@RockyLXXXVIII]

Dolphins rape and murder other marine life for fun... how graceful

[@oviart4009]

Ethan H sounds like humans

[@Dutchman-2002]

@@RockyLXXXVIII comes with intelligence i guess

[@FiredogOPO]

You may never see this but I hope you know how extremely rare of a sight that was.

[@jonariaofthejonaries1705]

Quite an experience, can't imagine it

[@HarrySharry18]

Wow...............I've dived with whale sharks in the Maldives before but they don't even compare in size to this big fella'. Such a beautiful and graceful creature :)

[@BeeBeeCJr]

There’s nothing to be scared of. There esophagus isn’t even the size of a basketball and it wouldn’t think of trying to eat you, ever. Not even if it was starving. Just letting you guys know. :)

[@anyaw340]

I think most people know whales don't eat people; however, a human can fit in the gigantic mouth of a whale, and people have been accidentally gulped up by whales. That's certainly a scary experience, and it is dangerous to be near them when they're feeding because they indiscriminately gulp up whatever is near the small fish/plankton they're attempting to eat. A man was recently gulped up by a humpback whale and was injured in the process. Also, most people are just scared of the size of the animal combined with the concept of being in the ocean with it, even if they're not scared of being killed by it. It's intimidating, and a strange animal to our eyes.

[@Leon.moschee]

That duck is straight up vibin

[@youngkappakhan]

be glad the fellow didn't feel like shattering your eardrums that day

[@basportsfan325]

I have always wanted to free dive but one things has always held me back from doing it and that is an attack by a shark. Are you not afraid of just being attacked out of nowhere in the ocean by a shark or some other animal?

[@aharmer1]

The short answer is, "no". The chance of an attack is so remote and rare that I should feel more uncomfortable driving on the freeway than swimming in the ocean. I think most people are more afraid of what they cannot see, so bad visibility. That lets your brain and fears run wild and you don't properly weight the actual risks. So it boils down to, there are risks, but they are very low probability. Once you figure out what you are really afraid of, you can face that and live how you really want.

[@dickyStardust1921]

In case if you didn't know it now, sharks doesn't like to eat human and if you were attacked by shark, they usually thought we were some seals or fish

[@KenLAFC]

I'm so scared of that happening to me

[@yamthenokia8322]

@AD3adly Assass1n Mostly because alot of whales are so damn massive. They're harmless but having a whale come out of nowhere can be a terrifying experience for some.

[@Daboy804]

Imagine how insects, hamsters or any small animal with decent eyes feel when they see us. Picking up a hamster would be scarier to them than a blue whale swimming by us. And the worst part about humans is we’re not chill and always want to touch and pet things. Whales will swim by, see you and mind their business.

[@jhibbitt2896]

don't be. just don't go diving. although, there's nothing to fear from them, they're peaceful creatures that eat krill

[@matthewritterson484]

I would have passed out if I was in this persons shoes

[@dcook3003]

First a school of WSB and now a blue whale. Incredible stuff!

[@aharmer1]

I have been told that is is the whale's noise. Perhaps more people could verify? I just figured it was something I was banging into on the camera.

[@coenh8735]

Damn that's spooky as hell

[@crex-pd1vv]

The biggest creature on earth

[@toptrendingonyt3593]

c88.rex 95% is not discovered yet bro

[@jasonvoorhees5180]

It doesn’t matter if 95% of the ocean is unexplored , different environments have various ecological constraints to live in and the deepest depths of our ocean is in all essence unlikely to support something as massive as a blue whale, sorry but Godzilla doesn’t exist many animals exceed a blue whale in “length” like certain invertebrates but not mass

[@yesandyes9168]

Jason Voorhees nothing exceeds a blue whale in length either

[@grey-spark]

I'm convinced blue whales are real life cyptids

[@Flivex-ld4bw]

When I was about 7 or 8 I promised myself I would become and astronaut, be the first person on Mars and encounter a blue whale, gotta make kid me proud.

[@aharmer1]

It has been a great season.

[@SaurianStudios1207]

Can the blue whale be considered a sea monster?

[@jhibbitt2896]

depends on how u define "monster" any animal that lives in the ocean could be defined as a monster i suppose

[@oscargruber8582]

Andrew Harmer has made the advancement *Biggest of all time*

[@hypercane5652]

😲 you are so Lucky 🍀 to encounter an animal that beautiful and rare 🐋🐡🐋

[@twisterrrrr]

That's a cool looking gun

[@streenghtto]

Very Beautifull video paradise god lives here

[@rodngun762]

Very awesome blue whale encounter!

[@leftylou6070]

Cap'n Ahab out there with his harpoon.

[@BiggCholo_2009]

Part of me would be mesmerized, the other part would fear for my life and immediately swim up to avoid dying from their loud ahh noises.

[@markrutte8611]

Lol the duck was so cute

[@toddkirichkow]

Holy crap!!! that's awesome dude!! was that clicking noise at the end the whale too??

[@standish92k]

Wow, that thing sounded very vocal too? Awesome experience.

[@aharmer1]

Thanks for clearing that up :)

[@mark6302]

good lord that is a giant

[@bobu5213]

I would be scared as hell

[@expandong]

0:49 And that's how I met your mother

[@sheilaarmenti5321]

Largest creatures 1 🐋 2 🦕 3 🐇

[@LordDeathAku]

Wow! I never new an [X] would be the largest animal in the world thanks for the dank wisdom alexa!

[@USMCKong0311]

Yeah, big chungus is pretty big. lol 😂

[@Ziphiid21]

That wasn't the whale. They don't produce high-frequency sounds like that. As he said, he was probably just rubbing up against his camera or something.

[@thramagen]

the gun isn't loaded, well theres definitley a harpoon in it

[@aharmer1]

Yes, very astute, there is a spear in the gun. This type of gun uses latex bands for energy. The bands are stretched from the muzzle of the gun and put into notches in the spear shaft. This stretch gives the kinetic energy required to propel the shaft. With the bands disengaged the shaft could not fire, even when the trigger is pulled.

[@gingerisevil02]

Andrew Harmer why do you have it?

[@benm5970]

I think whales are scary and so I would literally have a heart attack if this happened to me

[@mohamedsuhaan4094]

If I saw that I will be like WHAT THE F***

[@robbietheref]

Photoshop and the blue whale is from another vid

[@aharmer1]

robbie byrne ?? What are you talking about?

[@xFiizZy]

Moron

[@aharmer1]

***** the funny thing is that it would be a whole lot easier for me to get this video of a whale than it would be to figure out how to seamlessly edit a whale into a video.

[@Balonishell]

Awesome.

[@rosieisleng1102]

I wonder how boring sea creatures are just swimming all day

[@sarahchu6091]

I thought you were going to poke the duck.... thank you for not

[@leander2843]

Uh. I would freak out completly in the Open seas. Im a good swimmer but if i cant See the ground i would just Panik.

[@SAMEntalhealth]

Not loaded? Then what is that? Lol

[@casual_dropoutyt2912]

I can’t swim 🏊‍♂️

[@Insomniac21]

Wow

[@manim7631]

do Not shoot the whale because whaling is declined

[@xXLeAkErXx]

you ruined the beautiful footage with the text.

[@bradengaudet566]

This som subnáutica shit

[@Chebva]

Stupid to have a spear gun thats not loaded.

[@aharmer1]

Chebva Romero I always unload my speargun when I am getting ready to get back in the boat, or go through the surf. The alternative seems pretty stupid to me.

[@Chebva]

@@aharmer1 So you were already back by the boat in the video?

[@aharmer1]

Chebva Romero that’s the deal with paddy hopping. Spot a paddy, load your gun, check the paddy, unload your gun, get back in the boat. Boom boom boom keep it moving all day. Good times.

[@Chebva]

@@aharmer1 Forgive me. I did not know your protocol for that. You are very brave to swim with those creatures. I could not do that. Do you use the spear gun just for protection or for hunting food also?

[@aharmer1]

Chebva Romero just for food.