The marine mammal's jump took the people in the canoe by surprise

Feb 7, 2013 08:09 GMT  ·  By

Whale watching is supposed to be a calming and relaxing experience, yet for the group of people in the video above it turned out to be more of an utterly unexpected adrenaline rush.

As one can easily notice, the humpback whale first decided to swim fairly close to the boat, and then proceeded to giving it a more or less gentle nudge.

“We were out whale watching and totally caught off guard. Good thing it was an adolescent whale and nothing bad happened,” the people in the canoe later commented with respect to their close encounter with this impressive marine mammal.

Wildlife researchers believe that the juvenile humpback whale either wished to play, or wished to send a message having to do with these people's coming into its territory.

“So this is how the Titanic sank,” reads one funny comment to this video.