WOMAN INJURED WHILE SWIMMING WITH HUMPBACK WHALES

An Australian woman was seriously injured Saturday while swimming with humpback whales in Western Australia. The 29-year-old woman suffered fractured ribs and internal bleeding when one of the whales hit her with its tail during a “swim with the whales” experience at Ningaloo Reef. (* Nincompoop Reef?) She reportedly was hospitalized in Perth and was in serious but stable condition Monday. The tour operator said that that the female humpback swam directly at the group to place herself between them and her calf, and then began engaging in defensive moves, like slapping her pectoral fins and tail against the water, and her tail hit the woman.
* Well okay then. Message received!
* They were going to give her a citation for swimming too close to the whale, but she was already hit with a cetacean.
* You were hit by a whale. Stop blubbering.
* Next on her Australian Adventure Tour itinerary: Teasing giant crocodiles.
* She now has a whale of a tale to tell.