'It was swimming around me': Free-diver captures close encounter with orca
When Ping-Yi Wu started taking a selfie while floating in the ocean near East Sooke, B.C., the tourist never imagined she would eventually capture an orca with her camera.
“I was just looking around,” Ping-Yi smiles in a Zoom call from her home in Taipei. “Just seeing what was underwater.”
Ping-Yi had travelled to B.C. from Taiwan to visit her friend and fellow free-diver Ethan Peng.
“Everything just seemed normal,” Ethan recalls. “We had a good time in the water.”
Ethan was hoping to introduce Ping-Yi to some of the many creatures he’d met under the sea, like an octopus (which are certainly shy around strangers), or the manta ray (that seemed to greet the divers with a smile).
“Whenever wild animals come by,” Ethan says. “I always think that’s good luck!”
So when seals kept swimming around him, Ethan called his friend over to get some footage with her camera. But Ping-Yi kept missing them.
“I think, ‘Why not me?’” Ping Yi smiles. “Why I cannot see?”
“And then five minutes later,” Ethan says. “Ping was screaming, ‘Ahhh! Oh my God!’”
Ethan assumed Ping-Yi had been startled by a seal, until he noticed a large black fin cutting through the water.
“I realized I was wrong very quickly,” Ethan says.
And then, approaching Ping-Yi quite curiously was an orca.
“I was shocked,” Ethan says.
“It was swimming circles around me,” Ping-Yi says. “It was very close.”
Although it was close enough to touch, she didn’t. Although it felt like a dream, it wasn’t.
“I feel wow!” Ping-Yi smiles. “Beautiful.”
“I feel blessed,” Ethan says. “Honoured.”
As Ethan looks back on the video, he also couldn’t feel more grateful to have shared it with his friend.
“It is the experience in our water here,” Ethan says.
Which is why — despite having her video as a souvenir — before returning home, Ping-Yi bought a more tangible reminder of her remarkable orca encounter — a "fluffy, killer whale stuffie."
“It’s a very good experience and memory,” Ping-Yi smiles while cradling the toy in her arm. “A forever memory.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Serial sexual offender linked to unsolved 1970s homicides of four Calgary girls, women
An investigation into unsolved historical homicides from the 1970s has linked the deaths of two girls and two young women in and around Calgary to a now-deceased serial offender.
Woman with liver failure rejected for a transplant after medical review highlights alcohol use
For nearly three months, Amanda Huska has been in an Ontario hospital, part of it on life support, because of severe liver failure. Her history of alcohol use is getting in the way of her only potential treatment: a liver transplant.
Dabney Coleman, actor who specialized in curmudgeons, dies at 92
Dabney Coleman, the mustachioed character actor who specialized in smarmy villains like the chauvinist boss in '9 to 5' and the nasty TV director in 'Tootsie,' has died. He was 92.
Information commissioner faces $700K funding shortfall, says system is 'overwhelmed'
Canada's information commissioner says her office is facing a $700,000 funding shortfall that could impact its ability to investigate complaints about government transparency and accountability.
BREAKING Craig Berube named as next head coach of Toronto Maple Leafs
The Toronto Maple Leafs have named Craig Berube as their new head coach.
Backlash over NFL player Harrison Butker's commencement speech has reached a new level
The NFL is distancing itself from controversial comments by Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker during a recent commencement address.
B.C. man 'attacked suddenly' by adult grizzly near Alberta boundary: RCMP
A B.C. man is recovering from multiple injuries after he was "attacked suddenly" by an adult grizzly bear near Elkford Thursday afternoon.
Australia's richest woman seeks removal of her portrait from exhibition
Art is subjective. And while many artists long to share their work with the world, there's no guarantee that the audience will understand it, or even like it.
Person charged in random assault on actor Steve Buscemi in New York
A person wanted in connection with the random assault on actor Steve Buscemi on a New York City street earlier this month was taken into custody Friday, police said.