Close Call After Breaching Whale Lands on Plymouth Boat

It was a surprising day for a few Plymouth boaters when a breaching whale off Manomet Point actually landed on a boat.

Manomet Point is a popular spot to whale-watch along the South Shore, but on Sunday morning the number of boats in the water may have been too much for the local humpback whale population to take.

As photos from the Town of Plymouth's Facebook page showed, one whale tried to come up for some air and found it had nowhere left to land. Unfortunately for the closest boaters, that meant landing on their vessel.

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Many other boaters watched it happen and, of course, photographers caught plenty of the action, too. You can see the captain of the boat bracing for impact as this huge mammal lets him know he got too close.

Clearly, many of these boaters were too close to a known area of whale activity. The Plymouth Harbormaster Department recommends a distance of at least 100 yards to minimize potential interactions like this one, which can be dangerous for both the boater and the whale.

Luckily neither party was injured in this particular incident. The harbormaster reported that the whale landed on the 19-foot boat and then simply slid off and went back into the water with no apparent injuries. The boater also came away unscathed.

The boat, however, did sustain some damage, though nothing that would make it inoperable. A broken window on the bow of the boat seemed to be the only sign that this crazy moment even took place.

It doesn't mean the boater gets to just float away, however. The harbormaster stayed in the area to watch for any potential violations of the Marine Mammal Act and sent information to the Massachusetts Environmental Police, which is now handling the investigation into the incident.

More proof that getting too close to these amazing animals isn't all it's cracked up to be.