While visiting the Coromandel Peninsula in New Zealand, Australian surf photographer Dylan Brayshaw flew his drone over the water and captured the remarkable sight of an Orca pod, consisting of a mother and two babies, coming up alongside a woman who was doggedly swimming against the tide. The playful whales repeatedly encircled the swimmer without doing her any harm. Nonetheless, the woman exited the sea, but soon went right back in to swim with the whales.

I was watching a pod of orcas swimming up the beach, I saw a swimmer swimming along shore directly towards them,… The orcas circled her and she got quite the fright. She then got out the water as she was only 20m from shore. Some onlookers chatted to her about the experience and then to my surprise she got back into the water and swam back towards the pod, to I assume continue her training swim.