This Flutist Takes Whale Watching to a New Extreme

Chilean-born flutist Viviana ‘Flute Queen’ Guzman took the title of her Grammy-nominated album Traveling Sonata to heart when she went out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean on her paddleboard to play her flute. Half Moon Bay in California is known for fairly calm waters, but while playing her song “Native Soul,” a hungry humpback whale interrupted her serenity.

Guzman’s friend was wearing a headcam, catching it all on video, which she later posted to her YouTube channel on July 16, writing, “I play my flute for the whales, and they come!”

The video has gone viral with over 320,000 views as of press time.

Many viewers have expressed joyful awe at the close encounter. One user wrote: “I think I would have fallen right off the board and into the water if a whale surprised me like that.” Another added: “That would have put my heart into cardiac arrest.” Check it out below.

Sorry Guzman, but this whale was just having it’s breakfast rather than surfacing to appreciate your sonata. Just a juvenile, this humpback whale employs a technique called lunge feeding, reports Distractify, where it will dive below a school of fish, and rise up rapidly to consume them en masse. (Note the school of fish propelled out of the ocean.)

Miraculously, Guzman manages to stay on her board. The seagulls flying overhead are probably hoping for sloppy seconds.

Guzman apparently likes the shock value of playing her flute on the open sea. Here she is performing “He’s A Pirate” from the film Pirates Of The Caribbean on board a vessel. No word if any gigantic squids were spotted nearby!