Kevin Mehra and his three friends had just cast their fishing lines into Boston Harbor Friday evening when two whales leapt near their boat, mouths wide open, and swallowed mouthfuls of fish.
The boat — carrying Mehra, the owner of 90+ Cellars; Boston Bruins defenseman Torey Krug; Bill Caulder, who owns the boat; and Bruins trainer Matty Falconer — was near the Graves Light in the harbor when the whales appeared around 6 p.m.
Mehra estimated the whales were about 5 to 10 feet from their boat when they first appeared. He said in 12 years fishing, he’s never seen a whale so close.
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He wasn’t sure what kind of whales they were.
“First we were kind of shocked, probably a little bit scared because it was right there next to us,” Mehra said in a phone interview Saturday morning as he grabbed a coffee before going back out on the water with his friends.
The whales startled them, but the men continued to fish for pogies to use as bait for other fish.
“We tried to keep a pretty good distance,” Mehra said.
Once the whales moved away from the boat, Mehra recorded a short video of them.
“They didn’t really care that we were there, like, they weren’t scared of us at all,” he said.
Felicia Gans can be reached at felicia.gans@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @FeliciaGans.