SEASIDE PARK – In what was described as a very frightening incident, a whale breached off the coast of Seaside Park, toppling a boat in the process.
Thankfully, no one was injured, not even the whale.
Members of the Facebook group Friends of Seaside Park talked about the incident that happened on the morning of June 8.
The whale was possibly a humpback whale. It had breached and landed on a boat “only a few dozen yards off D Street.” The two occupants were thrown from the boat but were OK.
The whale continued to swim about and breach from time to time.
The boat was beached on the shore but was taken away on a trailer a few hours later.
Seaside Park Police posted the following on their Facebook page late this afternoon:
Earlier today a whale jumped out of the water and landed on a boat with two men aboard. Both men were thrown from the boat but managed to get back on before coming ashore. No injuries were reported and the whale appeared to be fine as it was observed swimming and breaching following the incident. We have been in communication with Marine Mammal Stranding Center who are aware of the incident.
The boat is in the process of being removed by towing services. We would like to thank all of our beachgoers for their assistance in securing the boat and retrieving some of the personal items that fell overboard.
