Watch the moment a free diver almost collides with a baby whale

By Fiona Jackson via SWNS

This is the tense moment a free diver had a close encounter and nearly collided with a baby whale.

Mitch Brown, 27, and his girlfriend Yanna Xian, 24, were swimming on a whale boat tour when they were approached by a baby humpback.

The curious two-week-old calf swam right up close to Yanna before descending into the sea.

But because of its massive size, and the movement of the water, it nearly pulled her with it, forcing Yanna to frantically swim upwards to keep herself from descending.

"Whales had been almost that close to us before, but they always had a clear sense of direction which was almost always away from us,"said Mitch, from Honolulu, Hawaii.

"This one may have not seen Yanna which is why it reared it’s head before touching her.

"As it was swimming away was the time I realized we had just created a life memory.

"It felt like a true connection between human and whale."

The couple booked onto a whale-spotting boat tour with Moorea Blue Water on the final day of their trip to Moorea, Tahiti last September.

Every so often, the boat would stop and they would be able to get into the water to view whales in their natural habitat.

Photographer and Apple Store worker Mitch said: "We love traveling and freediving in our free time, we knew Tahiti was a bucket list destination to swim with whales.

"We were just swimming on the top of the water because we saw a mama whale and the baby whale resting at the bottom of the ocean.

"As we calmly watch them from above the water, this curious baby whale decides to come up to check us out."

The baby was caught on camera swimming up to the ocean's surface and rolling about in play, before deciding to dive back down just inches from Apple Store worker Yanna.

"It was a beautiful display of respect from both of them," Mitch said.

"The whale clearly didn’t want to run into Yanna and Yanna tried to swim back with her hands instead of feet to avoid kicking the whale.

"I was more worried the whale would in unintentionally hit Yanna, and it happened so quickly that by the time I could react the whale was changing course.

"After that we all swam to each other and showed each other videos and photos and were laughing and high-fiving.

"We were all so stoked we got to witness that.

"There was definitely a moment of connection between the two of them."

Yanna was letting some water out of her goggles when the whale approached, and when she put her head back underneath she saw it was right in front of her.

She did not touch the whale, but the experience left a huge impression.

"She could not believe that she just interacted with the baby whale up close," Mitch said.

"It was definitely a bucket list item that she didn’t even know she had."

The video was filmed on September 23, 2021.