VIDEO: Rare Drone Footage of Humpback Whales Surfing North Shore’s Pipeline
A North Shore resident captured rare video footage of humpback whales surfing Pipeline's waves.
VIDEO: Eric Sterman of stermanaerials.com
O‘ahu’s iconic Banzai Pipeline is known for attracting the world’s top surfers to ride its amazing 10-to-15 foot waves. The surf break recently hosted some rarer visitors: a pod of giant humpback whales riding the swell close to shore.
North Shore resident Eric Sterman spied the majestic creatures about 250 ft offshore while capturing footage of Pipeline’s waves on April 5.
“This is the first time I’ve ever seen them that close,” he says. “They were right by all the surfers; it was crazy. I’d say they were right at the point of the break.”
Within five days of posting the video to YouTube, Sterman’s video received more than 50,000 views. Similar photos snapped that day went viral too.
“People were taking pictures and saying they were surfing,” he says. “It's like they were bodysurfing, swimming through the waves and it was really cool.”
