A Breathtaking Aerial

New Zealand photographer Sam Kynman-Cole captured drone footage of a playful orca whale interacting with a kayaker in Army Bay, New Zealand. Floating in a pink kayak, which was visible against the beautiful green-blue of the water, a person wearing a wet suit was approached in the kayak by an orca. But as you can see in the photo below this person hasn’t been the only kayaker spotted with a whale:

The orca approached the boat and appeared to be perfectly comfortable drifting underneath the understandably shocked kayaker. With a breathtaking aerial view from above, we can witness the kayaker, who was also wearing a snorkel, go into the water with the orca. For a little while, they almost appeared to be floating in a circle in perfect synchronicity. You can see the person start to drift away from the kayak, pulled by the current. As the person swam back to the kayak, the orca followed alongside him.

The kayaker then began to paddle away and was followed by his orca friend, as well as some others swimming nearby. As he continued to paddle, the orca swam directly under the kayak, surfacing right in front of it, and even sprayed the person as another seeming gesture of play. Sam Kynman-Cole said he was filming for about a total of 9 minutes to witness this remarkable sighting. The use of drones is allowing people to observe truly spectacular events.