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  "path": "/26/04/eye-contact-with-a-humpback-whale",
  "publishedAt": "2026-04-23T18:34:40.000Z",
  "site": "https://kottke.org",
  "tags": [
    "Rachel Moore",
    "a close encounter",
    "the whale was dead",
    "became law late last year",
    "moss & fog",
    "photography",
    "whales"
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  "textContent": "I’ve never seen anything like these photos before. In October 2024, Rachel Moore had a close encounter with a humpback whale in French Polynesia and took these photos of the whale’s eye. Moore wrote of the experience:\n\n> This moment of eye contact was beyond my wildest dreams. I’ve never encountered a whale like this one, and it was the most profoundly beautiful experience of my life.\n\nTragically, just a few days later, the whale was dead; she drowned after being struck by a boat. Moore’s photos and experience galvanized an effort to regulate a slow zone for large boats in French Polynesia during whale migration season, which became law late last year:\n\n> French Polynesia has just passed new speed regulations to better protect humpbacks during their migration. Vessels over 12 meters must now travel at 10 knots (12 knots max) within 1 nautical mile of the islands, helping prevent the kind of tragedy we never want to see again.\n\n(via moss & fog)\n\n**Tags:** photography · Rachel Moore · whales",
  "title": "Eye Contact With a Humpback Whale",
  "updatedAt": "2026-04-23T18:34:40.000Z"
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