A video captured the wonderful moment a killer whale curiously investigated a swimmer out at sea.
The man had been kneeboarding at the time in the picturesque waters of Tindalls Bay, in Auckland, New Zealand.
Not far off, a boat which had been pulling him along, drifted through the water.
But then, both spotted the approaching killer whale as it made a beeline for the swimmer.
At first, the swimmer, who had been floating in the water with their lifejacket, panics and can be seen frantically scrambling for their board as the boat circles.
The boat's pilot can be seen watching the approaching killer whale as well.
But then the swimmer stops and watches in amazement as the whale dives underwater and rolls over.
As it investigates the swimmer it blows bubbles up besides him.
The boat continues to circle around close by and the killer whale can be seen just below the surface, seemingly looking up at the swimmer.
The orca drifts away as the man paddles for the rope and grabs hold of it when the animal nearly disappears from view as the boat readies to pull away.
But just as the man's about to leave, you can see it re-emerge from the depths for one last look.
It then seemingly swims along with the man as the boat speeds up, going upside down just beneath him.
One edit of the video was shared online, in which it was sped up and given loud music and shared online which claimed to show the incident as the orca hunting the man down.
Despite what their names might suggest, killer whales are largely friendly animals and do not pose a threat to humans.
Only a few attacks on humans have been recorded ever - most of which take place when the sea creatures are in captivity.
