A team of people in a small zodiac boat in the Antarctic Ocean found themselves surrounded by killer whales. The orcas were “spy hopping” all around the boat to get a better look at the humans, who were just as curious about the massive marine mammals as the massive marine mammals were about them.
Videos by Outdoors
Richard Sidey was one of the team members on the zodiac boat, alongside a woman named Teodora, who was filming the incredible interaction. Sidey shared the footage on Instagram, and it went viral.
[RELATED: ‘Déjà Vu’: Fisherman Has a Second Orca Encounter Go Viral]
“We were observing and filming this pod hunting seals on ice floes in the distance when suddenly [orcas] surfaced all around our zodiac, spy-hopping to check out the three of us onboard,” wrote Sidey in the post. “It was absolutely incredible and such a privilege to experience an encounter with these magnificent and intelligent beings in their natural habitat.”
Watch killer whales spy hop around a zodiac boat in Antarctica:
Header stock image by Riegsecker/Getty Images