Stunning drone video captures massive blue whale swimming near boat

Drone footage recorded on June 19 captured a curious blue whale swimming close to a boat off of the coast of San Diego and the whale’s sheer size would make anyone stare in awe.

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Local whale watcher Domenic Biagini, owner of Gone Whale Watching, recorded the video and said the whale decided to check out the boat, unprompted.

“We’ve been lucky to see blue whales almost every day for the past week, and in this amazing moment, this giant whale came over to check out our boat,” Biagini said.

“This was entirely the whale’s choice,” Biagini continued, “as we did not approach this whale at all. In fact, our engine was completely off and we were just drifting there as this amazing moment happened.”

Blue whales are the largest animals on the planet, weighing as much as 200 tons (approximately 33 elephants), according to the World Wildlife Fund. The blue whale has a heart the size of a Volkswagen Beetle and its stomach can hold one ton of krill. This giant needs to eat about four tons of krill each day.

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Blue whales are common off the coast of California where there is an abundant supply of krill to feed on, according to SanDiego.org.

Biagini added, “Blue whales typically spend the summer months feeding off the San Diego coast, so we are hoping to see many more of these giants.”

Storyful contributed to this report.