‘Super curious’ creature lurks beneath kayak in Australia, drone video shows. ‘A dream’
Glenn “Nish” Annear was recently kayaking near the shore of Bondi Beach in Australia when he met an unexpected visitor.
A massive humpback whale had followed Annear up the coast from Tamarama to Bondi, according to 7News Australia and an Instagram post shared by Jason Iggledon on his account, Drone Shark App. Iggledon captured the interaction from above.
The video shows the “super curious” whale diving behind Annear as he paddles toward the shore.
“Wowee,” Iggledon says in the video. “Mate, do you know there’s a whale just following you?”
As the creature continues swimming behind the kayak, Iggledon is heard imploring Annear to “turn around.”
“He’s under you! He’s gonna nudge you in a minute.”
The humpback then swims up to Annear’s right side, popping out of the water before diving back down beneath the kayak.
“That was epic,” Iggledon said in the video.
Eventually, Annear noticed the massive whale, he told 7News Australia.
“I could’ve put my paddle on it,” he told the news outlet. “It was quite amazing.”
Social media users were wowed by the interaction.
“It always amazes me how enormous they are but they are so stealthy that they go unnoticed until they pop up,” one person commented on the Instagram video. “It’s incredible to me that they could hurt us so easily if they tried but they’re so gentle and curious. Truly incredible creatures.”
“That’s a dream,” another person commented on the video.
“Absolutely magical,” a third commenter wrote on Instagram. “What a lucky human, this would have made my year.”
Bondi Beach is about 5 miles southeast of Sydney.
This story was originally published June 26, 2023 at 10:05 AM with the headline "‘Super curious’ creature lurks beneath kayak in Australia, drone video shows. ‘A dream’."
