A paddleboarder who got up close and personal with a whale off the coast of southern Massachusetts caught video of the massive animal bumping into a boat, apparently delighting everyone on the water.
Bob Babcock posted video of his encounters to Facebook Friday morning. In one, he yells out, "I got that on video!" to some boaters who were jostled by the whale, whose bump pushed the boat sideways.
He told NBC10 Boston that he didn't know the people on the boat, but that they were just as excited as he was. In the video, they yell back at him with glee.
About 50 seconds into the other video, a whale surfaces alongside Babcock. He yells out, "Hello!"
Babcock said he's logged hundreds if not thousands of hours paddleboarding over 16 years and has never seen so many whales so close to shore.
The whales have indeed been active in the area.
Earlier this week, a photographer caught an image of a whale breaching in Plymouth near a paddleboarder — a different paddleboarder.
"Part of the mouth comes up and then it opens up and you can see all of the fish following it, and fish coming out of its mouth, and then it's about 20-25 feet near and then it splashes down," Michael Manfredi told NBC10 Boston. "Like oh my god, this is awesome."
