A paddle boarder had an incredible encounter recently with a blue whale off the coast of California.
Stunning drone footage, which was filmed on April 25 off Newport Beach, shows the whale surface right beside the boarder who is able to paddle with the marine giant for about 30 seconds.
Mark, who caught this on his drone, told Newsflare: "Blue whales are classified as an endangered species, like most whales they were hunted almost to extinction around the world but are slowly increasing in numbers but only have one calf at a time every few years.
"If they [whales] felt threatened by a human, it would likely flee the area. This blue whale had been seen feeding in the same area for about three weeks and on this encounter, the whale surfaced very close to the paddleboarder before sinking back down for another feeding dive.
"I was not expecting this to happen as I was filming this whale for about an hour already and when the whale surfaced, by the time I flew the drone over to it, it was already on its last breath before diving. I've been using drones to film whales for over 5 years now and this is the first time I've gotten a paddle boarder next to a blue whale."
Rich German, the paddleboarder, told Newsflare: "It was a total coincidence that Mark and I were there at the same time. I had paddled out because I had seen the whale off the shore. I saw that it was less than a mile off the coast.
"I ran home and grabbed my board and paddled for about an hour from Laguna Beach to get to the whale. I was with it for about 90 minutes. Mark showed up by coincidence with the boat company he works with and he had his drone and he captured what you saw which was pretty awesome."
German took up paddleboarding in 2010 and says he has multiple experiences with blue whales: "I've paddled in those waters probably about 3,000 times and over 20,000 miles. I run a non-profit organisation called Project O which is about protecting the ocean and the sacred life that lives in it. That's an encounter I've had many, many times but that was the first time someone ever captured it with a drone which really gave an awesome perspective."
