Every few years, the humpback whales(座头鲸) come into the bay of California in November while they're migrating(迁徙). In 2020, the whales were around again, so I decided to take out my kayak(小皮船) to watch them. I invited my friend Liz Chong to go with me but was refused at once, for she was worried that my light narrow boat would overturn while we were in it. I promised the boat was super stable, and told her howmagnificentit would be.to watch whales. After half an hour persuading, she finally agreed to go with me.
We set out the next morning, and there were already other whale lovers in the bay. I spotted two pairs of whales swimming toward us. We were in excitement: it's amazing to be so close to such a giant creature. We paddled closer, for I thought we'd be safe as they were just passing by. Suddenly, a group of fish, being run after by the whales, started jumping out of the water into our kayak, sounding like crackling glass around us. At that moment, I realized we were too close. Then the kayak was turned over—the whales were going to drag us down! Just in seconds one of them swallowed almost my entire body except for my right arm with a paddle. Liz, meanwhile, was being attacked by another whale too.
We didn't know that whales have enormous mouths but tiny throats—anything they can't swallow, they cough out. Luckily, wearing life jackets, we were soon popped up out of the water. The entire suffering lasted only ten seconds, but to me it felt like forever.
A few people nearby shot a video of the entire incident. They came up to check if we were OK. "You were in the whale's mouth!" they told us. "We thought you were dead." A few days later, I studied the video and saw how close I'd come to being injured or killed. I became so much more appreciative of life after that day.
