Divers off Kent coast ‘mesmerised’ by humpback whale visiting their boat

A group of divers experienced a massive surprise when a humpback whale popped up next to their boat.

Diver Thomas Packman said he’d not seen anything like it in 13 years of diving as he recorded the whale rolling over and over, splashing its tail in the water.

Thomas and his colleagues from Mutiny Divers spotted the huge sea creature on their way back from exploring a shipwreck in the English Channel, between Dover and Folkestone in Kent.

Another colleague, who had been diving for close to 30 years, had also never seen such a sight.

Thomas, 26, said: ‘It was absolutely mesmerising. We were on our way back from a dive in Folkestone and about a mile away we saw a massive splash.

‘We had a thought it might be something like a whale or a dolphin because we had seen one about a month ago.

‘We got closer and sure enough, it was this massive tail sticking a few metres up in the air and continuously splashing on the water.

‘It was rolling around on the surface and just looked like it was having a good time really.

‘It came right up next to the boat and rolled over. It was splashing its tail on the water for a good five or 10 minutes.

The whale was splashing around their boat for five or 10 minutes (Picture: SWNS)

The divers had been exploring a shipwreck in the English Channel when they spotted the whale’s tail (Picture: SWNS)

‘It was an incredible experience, it really was amazing to see it.

‘We were quite shocked as we thought the sound of the boat would scare it away. It was almost in touching distance of the boat and then began rolling around.

‘You could see the whole length of it and see the white of it underneath when it rolled over and the dark grey on top. We were really surprised it hung around for as long as it did really.

‘It was massive. I have been told it is quite rare to see one around here.’

The whale looked like it was ‘having a good time’ (Picture: SWNS)

Humpback whales, which can weigh up to 80 tonnes and reach 18 metres in length, are not very frequent visitors to the Channel, with the last reported sighting by a marine survey team in 2015.

Other whale breeds are more popular, with recent visitors including Benny the Beluga who was seen around Gravesend in 2018, and a Minke whale spotted in Dover harbour last December.

Thomas added: ‘The chap I work with has been diving out here for 30 years and he has been all around the world and he has never seen one, let alone that close.

‘It was a really amazing experience for all of us.

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‘At first we wondered if it was stuck in a net or something, but then it started rolling over so we knew it wasn’t.

‘One reason they do it is as a sign of aggression but we dismissed that as we saw it doing it a mile away from us before we even got there.

‘They can also do it when hunting to get the fish closer together but we think it was doing it to communicate with other whales.

‘The sound of the slamming of the tail on the surface travels very long distances and they believe it is a way of communicating over long distances.’

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‘It was rolling around on the surface and just looked like it was having a good time really.’