A kayaker in Alaska’s Resurrection Bay had a close encounter with two killer whales when they approached him . . . and then nearly ran right into him. Taylor Cline noticed the animals and began recording. They surfaced a short distance away and appeared to be heading straight toward him when they dove again and disappeared. A few tense seconds later, he films one orca passing behind him. Then, the other orca surfaces right in front of him, diving at the very last second to avoid colliding with his kayak.
[RELATED: WATCH: Orcas Circle Group of Foilers, Then One Person Falls in]
“Close encounter with Killer Whales on the outskirts of Resurrection Bay,” Cline wrote in his Instagram post sharing the video. “Volume warning* you might hear me nearly have a heart attack.”
Folks in the comments section seem to agree that the orca knew exactly what it was doing.
“That was a very purposeful pass! Totally checking you out,” wrote one person. “Some Orcas really seem to delight in making people squeal too. We have one male in particular in the Puget Sound who’s known for interacting with people to get a reaction out of them.”
“I think it was messing with you, just a tad,” wrote another.
Watch a couple of killer whales give a kayaker a heck of a surprise here:
Header stock image by Joel W. Rogers/Getty Images