Beatriz Moreno knows a thing or two about stinky whale breath.
Moreno, 30, was watching gray whales recently in Mexico’s Ojo de Liebre Lagoon when one of the mammals paused alongside the charter boat.
The accompanying footage shows the Glendale, Calif., resident positioning herself near the whale so Charlie Harmer, owner of Silver Shark Adventures, could capture footage of her wonderful encounter.
But at almost the precise moment when Harmer directed Moreno to look toward the camera, the whale exhaled a plume directly into her face and mouth, prompting a mixed reaction of joy and disgust.
It’s clear that Harmer, who runs whale-watching expeditions at Ojo Liebre from February into April, had set up his client. But the timing was so perfect that viewers might wonder whether the whale’s action also was intentional.
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“It feels like they do it on purpose,” Harmer told For The Win Outdoors. “That’s why I set her up, because I could see it happening based on the body language from the whale. I’ve been observing them for 10-plus years there, and after hundreds of encounters I can guess when this is going to happen.”
Said Moreno of the early March encounter: “The thing I feel when I play that video now and look back is just how human these animals are. They’re playful and there’s no doubt in my mind that I was sprayed on purpose.”
Call it an initiation of sorts.
Ojo de Liebre Lagoon and other Baja California lagoons are seasonal nursing and mating grounds for thousands of gray whales. During their stay, before they migrate back to feeding grounds off Alaska, they often interact with tourists on small boats.
The whales are curious and sometimes allow tourists to touch and stroke their skin, and because they exhale powerfully as part of their breathing process, tourists are sometimes sprayed.
Moreno said that throughout her time in the lagoon she was “mesmerized and incredibly aware of what a once-in-a lifetime type of moment I was living.”
Despite being pranked, she said she would gladly receive another gray whale drenching.
“Maybe this time I would close my mouth, though,” she joked.
