The surfers of Manly Beach in Sydney witnessed an extraordinary spectacle right in front of their eyes. A southern right whale and its calf approached the coast to feed and found themselves only a few meters from the sports boards.
A drone video shows the marine mammals swimming alongside the surfers, until the mother whale pushes the latter away, inflicting a tail blow to protect her child.
Southern right whales, like humpback whales, migrate north to breed before returning to the southern hemisphere to feed during the summer.