"I was sitting in the office with my colleague Nazmi, then the clouds broke and we wanted to enjoy a few rays of sunshine outside," he explains. Suddenly, the whale appeared just a few metres away from them, says Vázquez. "It really was like something out of a film," recalls the 46-year-old, "of course we were completely stunned".
First of all, he had to process what he had seen. But his two work colleagues were quickly certain that it could not have been the dolphin "Delle", which had been travelling in Lübeck for a long time last summer. "I immediately dashed in and hoped that I could still film the whale," says Vázquez, describing the situation. The whale then swam back and forth between the old lighthouse and the car ferry a few times before diving down again. "Since then, we haven't seen it here again," says the petrol station employee.
High profile for the humpback whale
Vázquez himself had not expected the video of the whale sighting to attract so much attention. Within a very short time, over 25,000 people had seen the clip on Instagram. The video also attracted interest from media organisations such as NDR and RTL Nord.
Although no official scientific investigations were carried out on site, a number of experts commented on the sighting on social media. According to the comments, the animal is clearly a humpback whale. However, the reasons for its appearance in the Baltic Sea remain unclear. Speculation ranges from foraging to a possible disorientation of the animal.
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Sighting was a lucky coincidence
"It is clearly the largest creature I have ever seen," emphasises eyewitness Vázquez. The fact that the humpback whale appeared while he was on site was "pure coincidence". He was only working in Travemünde on Tuesday and Thursday this week, he says. Vázquez explains: "As far as the petrol station is concerned, I'm a complete career changer. We're just taking a bit of a turn here." He goes on to explain that he is actually responsible for marketing and advertising at H & R Mineralölhandelsgesellschaft mbH, which now manages the petrol station on Priwall. "From July, we also want to offer fish sandwiches, potato salad, sausages and drinks here with the "Travesnack"," says Vázquez. Until then, there will only be various fuels and duty-free diesel for official ships. "For Saturday, for example, the fire brigade has announced that they will be coming by and filling up with 5,000 litres of diesel," says Vázquez happily.
