This photographer got unbelievably close to a breaching whale and the footage is spectacular

If you’ve ever been in the presence of a pod of whales, then consider yourself a first-person witness of magic happening IRL because the magnificent sea creatures are truly something to behold. No one knows that better than this photographer who encountered a breaching whale while swimming off the coast of Tonga, Popular Mechanics reports. It’s one thing to see a whale swimming from afar, but Beau Pilgrim was just 50 feet away from a humpback whale when it suddenly sprang forth from the water.

Pilgrim posted the footage of his unbelievable whale encounter on YouTube and it will literally leave you breathless. In the beginning of the video, the whale quickly swims toward the camera then immediately breaks through the surface of the water to pull off the best leap of all time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7ZON5ztSsc

*nearly loses consciousness from shock*

OK, so normally we’d be experiencing some rather intense FOMO after watching something so fascinating, like how we felt after seeing pics from the guy who got photobombed by a humpback. However, watching this whale whoosh by so closely was also downright scary. Like, pee-your-wetsuit scary.

Before this, hitching a ride on a whale’s back seemed like a bucket list contender, but after viewing this terrifyingly beautiful footage, watching from the sidelines (or the internet) sounds like a much better option.