AUSTRALIA — A young man’s close encounter with a whale in Australia is caught on video… And now it’s gone viral.
The gentle giant approached several fisherman for help in Sydney’s middle harbor. Close encounters don’t get much closer than this.
It was a once in a lifetime opportunity for selfies. But then the boaters realized that this friendly giant appeared to be asking for a favor.
A plastic bag and fishing line was stuck near the whale’s mouth. One boater tried to remove it.
Then the whale came to young fisherman Ivan Iskenderian.
The Southern right whale rolled around, swam below them, even scared them a little, until the plastic bag was close enough for Ivan to tear free.
“That’s what he wanted all the while long,” a fisherman said.
And that special moment was captured in the background of a few more selfies.
“I couldn’t believe it; We were just laughing, we didn’t say anything. We just could not believe what was happening,” said Ivan.
“It’s very very curious, approaching boats, that behavior is called spy-hopping, waving, slapping, even spraying,” said Shona lorigan, a whale expert.
The whale raised a fin as it swam away, as if to say thanks for their help.