A whale was sighted in Hong Kong’s eastern waters on Thursday afternoon by a group of sailing instructors. It is thought to be a Bryde’s whale and was seen off the coast of Rocky Harbour near Millionaire’s Beach, or Nam Fung Wan, in Sai Kung.
The instructors, who work for Hebe Haven Yacht Club in Pak Sha Wan, shared a 30-second video of the whale sighting on the club’s social media pages, and it quickly went viral.
In the video, the whale’s mouth is open as it feeds. It then closes its mouth and goes back underwater, exposing only its dorsal fin.
The Bryde’s whale, a species of baleen whale, is usually found in tropical and temperate waters in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans. The closest known habitat of the species to Hong Kong is Beibu Wan off the coast of Guangxi province.
The last time a Bryde’s whale was spotted in Hong Kong and its surrounding waters was in the summer of 2021, when one was seen in Mirs Bay, off the coast of San Kung and Shenzhen’s Dapeng peninsula.
Header image credits: Hebe Haven Yacht Club via Instagram
