How would you react if you came face-to-face with a giant humpback whale? Well, one flute player got the experience of a lifetime when a whale almost knocked her off her paddle board. You’ll be blown away at how close this paddleboarder got to a whale!
20. Flute Player
Image: viviana.org
Viviana Guzmán is a Chilean professional flutist. She has performed in 122 countries and holds 80 concerts a year. She has even been recognized by big publications like The New York Times.
19. Recognized
Image: Fiveprime
Guzmán has been described by The New York Times as “an imaginative artist”. Along with many CDs and live performances, she also has a YouTube channel that she regularly uploads onto. Her YouTube channel is a pretty big hit.
18. YouTube Channel
Image: YouTube
On Viviana’s YouTube channel, you can find tons of her live performances available to watch. However, her flute playing isn’t the only thing that she happens to be known for. In fact, Viviana happens to have a hobby that no one would have guessed.
17. Paddleboarding
Image: YouTube
Outside of playing the flute, Viviana happens to love going on paddleboarding adventures. So what is paddleboarding? Well, here’s a brief rundown of this aquatic sport…
16. Aquatic Sport
Image: YouTube
Paddleboarding is a water sport that utilizes a surfboard or paddleboard to move you around in the ocean. You can either sit on the paddleboard or stand. The sport has gotten quite popular over the years and serves as a great full-body workout.
15. Flute Queen
Image: YouTube
Viviana, who also calls herself ‘Flute Queen’ was out in the water in Half Moon Bay, California. It was typical day and she wasn’t expecting anything out of the ordinary to occur. Then the craziest thing happened…
14. Playing
Image: YouTube
While sitting on her paddleboard in the middle of the ocean, Viviana decided to pull out her flute and begin playing. She wanted to play a song for the creatures that dwelled in the ocean. Little did she know that one would be joining her very soon.
13. Lunging
Image: Daily Mail
In a video that she had recorded, Viviana was spotted sitting on her paddleboard and playing the flute. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a giant humpback whale lunged up right in front of her. She has nearly blown away!
12. Another Angle
Image: NY Daily News
Someone else that was with her on the trip was also filming the experience. From the other person’s camera angle, you could clearly see what the whale was jumping out of the ocean for! So what was it doing?!
11. Hungry Whale
Image: NBC Bay Area
In the video footage, you can see the giant whale come out of the water with a mouthful of fish in its mouth. Viviana was in complete shock and almost fell off her paddleboard as the waves rocked her. Luckily, she managed to stay on!
10. Disbelief
Image: YouTube
Viviana, who currently lives in California, couldn’t believe just how close the whale had gotten to her. When asked, she said she had noticed the whales while she was still on shore but had no idea that they would ever get that close…
9. 20 Years
Image: YouTube
“In the 20 years I’ve lived on the coast they’ve never been this close,” Guzmán said. “I love going out on my paddle board and I have started taking my flute with me and they seem to like it.”
8. The Gift
Image: YouTube
Viviana truly believes that it was her flute playing that brought the whales so close to her. “I play my flute for the whales, and they come!” Viviana wrote of the experience. She later went on to upload the video footage onto her YouTube channel.
7. The Video
Image: YouTube
In the video description, Viviana wrote, “I was paddle boarding in Half Moon Bay, CA when all of the sudden a juvenile humpback leaped out of the water and lunge fed RIGHT NEXT TO ME!” The video instantly went viral and got tons of views! You won’t believe how many…
6. Viral
Image: Daily Mail
The video instantly went viral and has since received over 1 million views! Viewers have expressed shock and amazement over the content in the video. Most simply can’t believe their eyes…
5. Comments
Image: YouTube
Many viewers left comments on the video expressing their delight at the once-in-a-lifetime encounter. One person wrote: “I think I would have fallen right off the board and into the water if a whale surprised me like that.”
4. Amazed
Image: YouTube
Viewers were also genuinely amazed at how calm and collected Viviana was throughout the entire experience. Another person wrote: “That would have put my heart into cardiac arrest.” Believe it or not, this wasn’t the last experience Viviana had with the whales in the bay.
3. Again
Image: CNN.com
Surprisingly enough, Viviana somehow managed to see the whales again. She and her paddleboard partner went out into the water once more, where Viviana once again played her flute. She immediately caught the attention of another whale…
2. Attention
Image: YouTube
Viviana’s flute playing seemed to have brought over another whale. Her partner quickly noted, “She came to you!” It was obvious that the duo were excited for a second encounter.
1. Crazy Encounter
Image: YouTube
Image: YouTube
It is almost hard to believe that Viviana was able to get so close to a whale and all thanks to her fabulous flute playing. With the use of technology, all of us can experience the once-in-a-lifetime encounter with her!