Kayaker Films Unusual Encounter With Whales

— -- A kayaker filmed a once-in-a-lifetime encounter with a pod of whales off the coast of Washington’s San Juan Islands.

Michelle Feis says she and a guide were kayaking near the Islands in late-August when dozens of orca whales – she estimated around 30 – began to surround their kayak.

“We had no idea the whales were in the waters so close to us when we headed out; this was simply great timing plus PURE LUCK,” Feis wrote on YouTube, where she posted a video of her encounter last week.

“We moved our kayak as close to the cliffs and in the kelp as possible to be out of their way and stopped paddling while we watched them play and move through Open Bay,” Feis wrote. “But they were everywhere and we ended up being in the route of a few as seen.

“Keep in mind however that our kayak was no more obtrusive than a piece of driftwood floating on the surface,” she wrote.

Feis described the experience as scary but, “not fearing for my life scared.”

“It was utterly amazing, incredible, wondrous, unbelievable – IT WAS A DREAM COME TRUE!!!,” she wrote.

Feis estimated that the more than 30 whales were playing around her and her guide’s kayak and “feasting on a salmon breakfast.”

“Three passed right under our kayak, one looked right at us,” she wrote.