A crowd of unsuspecting surfers is in for an unexpected treat, and they only realize it when it’s swimming underneath all of them.
In a video posted just last 2019 showed an unlikely visitor weaving under the waters of Sana Point just off the Southern California coast.
A whale approached a group of surfers lounging over the waters, not really aware of what was gracefully gliding beneath them. This magical moment with this gentle behemoth was viewed and replayed a whopping 13.3 million times within the last two or so years.
High school senior Payton Landaas was flying his drone around the beach when he noticed a large silhouette moving towards the surfers.
Seeing something of this size can strike anyone with fear and awe but fortunately for this group of surfers, whales are not known to attack humans.
It slowly approached the coast with a depth deep enough to accommodate its passage.
Some of the surfers were trying to figure out what the silhouette was but it revealed itself when the tail whipped gently just above the water.
Landaas told NBC News:
“It was completely surreal and so insane.”
This is totally understandable when a mammal the size of a small bus or van is casually swimming towards you.
Commenters of the video were going in two different directions with some of them admiring this intense yet magical moment, and some of them just downright admitting that they’d “cr*p their pants”, or trunks if they ever see themselves in the same situation.
If you think seeing these gentle giants are scary to see from the surface, we could only imagine the fearful awe of seeing one underwater!
Whales aren’t that rare in Southern California. In fact, tours are being offered all year round to let people catch a glimpse of whale pods undergoing great migrations.
While the whale on this video was unspecified, whales of that season may include minke whales and grey whales.
Grey whales are especially notable since they are mammals with the longest migration routes.
So before the citizens of Los Angeles go on about their commute, it’s worth noting that these animals are swimming up to a round trip spanning 12,000 miles long.
The 12,000-mile trip includes areas of Alaska where they feed, the whole western coast of North America, and the western coasts of Mexico where they breed when the icy waters swirl in the north.
Looks like the gentle leviathan in this video was just taking a break from the long arduous trip to hang out with the surfers who might be waiting for a set of waves to come in.
Some of them are even oblivious to the presence of the visitor until it slightly comes up to the surface for a blow spray.
One of the surfers even got so surprised that they paddled quickly to move out of the way, and almost crashed onto another surfer.
Then, it submerges deeper into the water, disappearing as quickly as it approached.
Watch this biggest coast visitor say “hello” by clicking on the video below.
Please SHARE this with your friends and family.
