Divers Almost Get Swallowed By Humpback Whales

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...;v=BIeT1_i7JJE

This happened at Souza Rock, off the Central California Coast. The whales are humpbacks, which eat krim, shrimp, small fish, and not people.

One of the divers, Shawn Stamback, said that when he and his partner entered the water, the whales were a quarter of a mile away.

GrindTV quotes Monica DeAngelis, a mammal expert with the National Marine Fisheries Service, who "said she could not say based on the video whether the divers were violating the Marine Mammal Protection Act, which bans harassment or the altering of mammal behavior." "[But] they certainly are lucky no one got hurt," she said. "In addition, they were clearly closer than the recommended guidelines."

Vision on YouTube shows two divers near Avila Beach shooting underwater footage as the whales broke the surface to feed.

A shot below the surface shows the divers surrounded by a school of small sardines. Suddenly the water around them begins swirling and bubbling as the fish make a dash to the surface followed by two humpbacks who chase them out of the water with their mouths gaping just metres away from the divers.

The video shows the divers swim frantically for on their nearby boat, as others on the vessel laugh at their panic.

"Holy shi..," says one of the divers as he flees.

Charter boat owner Shawn Stambuck was also filming the divers from his boat.

"You're going to have to do more to clean that wet suit," he is heard telling the divers.