A New Hampshire man on a fishing trip off Cape Cod got the birthday present of a lifetime.
Robert Addie was celebrating his birthday when, instead of the tuna he was fishing for, he encountered a unique spectacle — three humpback whales breaching in unison in what he dubbed a “whale ballet.”
“A triple breach is unheard of, and a synchronized triple breach is even rarer,” the home remodeler told theAssociated Pressof the July 24 moment, which he captured on video taken from his boat about 300 yards away from the whale wonder.
“It’s once in a lifetime,” he continued. “Just very fortunate. God shined down on me to allow me to capture that.”
In the video, the trio of whales breach the surface and surge out of the ocean, doing a full rotation in unison before crashing back beneath the surface.
Before he was a home remodeler, Addie was a commercial fisherman in Massachusetts and Alaska for decades, according to AP. He said he encountered thousands of whales — but nothing like the “ballet.”
“They’re all jealous because they’ve never seen it,” he told the outlet.
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The former fisherman said the trio of humpbacks' synchronized breach felt even more memorable given the rare presence of his “beautiful” daughters, Sage, Cierra, and Neve Addie.
The Portsmouth man added that there was “lots to celebrate” after the trip assisting first responders in Ukraine, his vacation with his three “kiddos,” and the “epic whale ballet” finale.
“It was such an uplifting thing to see,” he told AP of the spectacle. “Just incredible.”
source: people.com
