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Standup paddleboard instructor Kristy Wright Schell got more than she expected when she spotted a humpback whale in the distance in English Bay. And she has the video to prove it.

On Saturday morning Wright Schell and her husband had launched off Locarno Beach and were paddling toward the Vancouver Yacht Club when they saw the humpback and decided to stay still and see what would happen.

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“It was really calm. We’ve experienced humpbacks before feeding and they circle and submerge a minute or two, then resurface. She’d been under the water two minutes and the seal next to my husband, you can hear on the video, was breathing heavy. My heart was beating and all I could think was please don’t come up close. When they are down that long clearly they can move far distances,” said Wright Schell.

“We were about 100 metres away when she came out of the water and rocketed into the air. My husband and I were blown away with the show we were given. It was quite the experience.”