Advertisement - Click to support our sponsors.

Breaching baby whale hits tourist on boat By Anthony Sommer Star-Bulletin PORT ALLEN, Kauai -- A woman tourist was treated for chest pains and an injured knee late yesterday after a baby humpback whale leaped over the railing of a whale watching boat, hit her and slipped back into the water. The whale swam away, apparently uninjured. The woman was admitted to Kauai Veterans Memorial Hospital for observation, but was expected to be released this afternoon. "It just came out of the blue," said Doug Phillips, co-owner of Na Pali Eco Adventures, which operates the 40-foot catamaran Hokua. Phillips said the boat, which was carrying about 35 passengers, was stopped and there were no whales in sight when the juvenile humpback suddenly breached and landed on the stern. "The engines were running and normally whales will keep their distance when they hear the engine," Phillips said. "But juvenile whales are pretty high strung and they don't know much yet." Humpbacks can be up to 15 feet long at birth.