Drone footage captures whale swimming dangerously close to surfers

An 18-year-old in Southern California was flying his drone around a beach on Nov. 11 and realized he had filmed something unbelievable.

According to NBC News, Payton Landaas captured a massive whale swimming toward a group of dozens of surfers who were oblivious to the mammal, who was only a few feet away from them. Even when the whale flicked its tail, only one swimmer moved away, as the rest looked over, unfazed.

"It was completely surreal and so insane," Landaas told NBC News.

Landaas said he regularly flies his drone over beaches to capture footage of all sorts of wildlife but has never filmed anything like this.

Watch the stunning video above.

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