If you’ve ever been whale watching, then you know how painstakingly boring it can be. You can go out on the water for hours and still have nothing to show for it – but thankfully, that’s not what happened when a photographer and his team boarded a whale watching boat off the coast of South Africa. Instead of sitting on the boat for what seems like forever without spotting a single whale, this photographer was able to capture one of nature’s most magnificent shows.

The photographer and his crew (including four scuba divers) were drifting near Pondoland, Eastern Cape province, South Africa, in a small inflatable boat when the unthinkable happened. After hours of waiting, their prayers were answered. Surprisingly, the seas were perfectly calm when their animal guests arrived, which made filming even easier. While they were only hoping to capture simple footage of marine wildlife in action, the animals had other plans. The increased activity was due to the world-famous South African Sardine Run (this occurs when pilchard fish move in a mass migration along the east coast of Africa). Normally, dolphins, birds and sharks descend upon the collection of sardines to snack on them. However, there was one particularly interesting event that occurred — and it had nothing to do with sharks, dolphins and opportunistic birds…

That’s when a giant visitor decided to make herself know. Weighing in at more than 40 tons, she slapped her fins on the water and did something that left the video crew in awe. This was everything they had been hoping for — and they caught it all on camera! Take a peek at what they were able to record by pressing “play” below. They knew this experience was a once-in-a-lifetime encounter and now we all have the chance to see it too!