A woman screamed in alarm when a humpback whale came out of nowhere and crashed into her boat.
You can watch the hair-raising footage below:
Dangerous animals unfortunately have a knack for emerging from the water with absolutely no warning and scaring the bejesus out of people.
Earlier this month, fisherman Scott Haraguchi was minding his own business paddling off the coast of Hawaii when a tiger shark popped up and started battering his kayak.
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He said: “Heard a 'whooshing' sound, looked up and saw a wide brown thing on the side of the kayak.
“Thought it was a turtle at first. Happened so fast.”
Haraguchi thankfully emerged from the encounter shaken but unscathed.
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Just last year in Plymouth, Massachusetts, another incredibly close call captured on camera saw a breaching whale slamming down into a 19-foot boat.
Miraculously, none of the crew were injured, though we imagine the whale felt a little sore afterwards.
Harbourmaster Chad Hunter said at the time: “The boat was in the right place at the wrong time. This could have been much worse for all involved.”
And now, another whale has been causing chaos for a group getting ready for Memorial Day weekend on the waters off Long Beach.
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Nicole Liotta filmed the terrifying moment a humpback whale emerged from the water right in front of her, confirming to the New York Post that it did in fact touch her boat.
She said she was screaming ‘more out of shock’ than fear for her safety, and the group later saw the whale pop up again further away.
She posted the footage yesterday (26 May) with the caption: “Happy Memorial Day weekend from our little friend.”
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After being shared by viral video account Long Island Wise Guy, the video has racked up 227,000 views on Instagram and 217,000 views on TikTok.
Social media users were stunned by the close call.
One TikToker who claimed to be at the scene said: “I was on the boardwalk watching your boat following them and saw that!! It was surreal.”
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Another more nervous user said: “Out on the boat now, not a good time to see this.”
While a third quipped: “I just imagine them going back down into the depths of the ocean laughing together, ‘that never gets old’.”
A fourth wrote: “Wait, who is the camera person? They need this to be their real job. I would have thrown it in the air.”
So would we, to be honest. That’s definitely closer to a humpback whale than you’d really want to get.
Simon Fearn