By Tim Binnall
A group of friends boating off the coast of Mexico's Baja California could not believe their eyes when they spotted an incredibly rare albino whale swimming near them. The encounter reportedly occurred a few weeks ago when Manuel Gonzalez and some pals were exploring the waters of a location known as Magdalena Bay. To their amazement, the excursion took a wondrous turn when a massive white whale emerged from the water.
Musing that an encounter with an albino animal in the wild was something which he'd yearned to experience for years, Gonzalez marveled that "when I saw this whale, I couldn't believe that my dream was coming true." Fortunately, the spellbinding moment was not too overwhelming for him as he had the wherewithal to pull out his camera and capture some footage of the fantastic beast. "At first we thought it could be a very white-ish gray whale," Gonzalez recalled, but upon closer inspection, they realized that "it was a 100 percent albinism."
For those who might be concerned that the breathtaking creature, which has spawned all manner of Moby Dick-themed headlines in the media, might draw the attention of a would-be Captain Ahab looking to take down a white whale, Gonzalez explained that the area is safe as fishing is prohibited in the region during this time of year. In a testament to the rarity of the group's sighting, it is the second such encounter with an albino whale off the coast of Mexico in the last decade.