Awe-inspiring footage has emerged which captures a pod of whales weaving through the ocean right underneath someone on a paddle board in Hawaii.
The aerial video, shot off the coast of Maui, shows the lone human absolutely dwarfed by the group of North Pacific humpback whales - one of which appears to nearly collide with the board before hovering under it then switching course, reported English newspaper The Daily Mail.
The video, which has been viewed more than three million times since it was uploaded to Facebook earlier this year, which was shot by a photographer under the name of Uheheu who has been documenting whales in Hawaii over a number of months, the footage captures four 30-ton whales.
(Youtube Official Video by Video Online)
It is likely that the one which came particularly close to the board was simply curious, though the perspective of the shot does make it appear somewhat alarming.
Each year, between around November and May, the magnificent mammals sail through Hawaii during their winter migration through the North Pacific.
Due to the conservation efforts of the North Pacific Humpback Whale conservation, their population has been growing over the past 50 years. In 1966, this whale population was believed to be approximately 1,400, according to Maui Whale Watching. In 1993, marine conservationists estimated 6,000, and in 2014, the population is believed to be 21,000.