A Dunsborough man holidaying with his family in Exmouth has captured the moment a breaching whale almost crashed onto a dinghy full of tourists.
Mark Collins, 49, told WAtoday how on the 7th of July, he took his boat out on the reef with his wife, his 12-year-old son and some friends when they saw three whales swimming around a couple of tourist-filled boats.
![Tourists were screaming after the whale breached right beside them.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170719014537im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/x/c/y/i/9/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gxcyo9.png/1500330835779.jpg)
He said all of a sudden one of the whales breached, shot up in the air and crashed back downjust metres beside one of the dinghies.
"We thought 'Geez, that was a bit close'," he said.
![The large whale almost smashed into one of the dinghies.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170719014537im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/x/c/y/i/c/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gxcyo9.png/1500330835779.jpg)
"You could hear the screams in the background."
Mr Collins said while seeing breaching whales at that time of the year up north was a common occurrence, he had never seen one so close to a boat.
"It was quite a spectacle, but it could have been a disaster," he said.