When wildlife watchers off the coast of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, heard of “large, unidentified creatures” seven miles away, they were intrigued. They assumed the animals would be gone before they arrived but decided to speed over to their last known location just in case they were still there.
When they arrived, they couldn’t see a thing but they didn’t give up right away. “We decided to wait, hoping the animals might come to us,” says Niklas Manger, operations manager at Apex Ocean Divers, who shared the video on Instagram.
They spent nearly an hour waiting before they were rewarded for their patience. They put up a drone and were astounded to see 12 Baird's beaked whales (Berardius bairdii) resting at the surface.
“To our amazement, they became curious about our boat and passed by within close range before slipping back into the dark blue depths,” he says. “It was one of the rarest encounters of my life.”
Although they are the largest of all the beaked whales, the chance of seeing this species is incredibly slim. These animals can dive around 1,000 metres and spend lots of time in deep waters.
"The chances of finding these animals are close to zero, and our group was exceptionally lucky to witness it,” says Manger. “Encounters like this offer a rare window into the secretive lives of one of the ocean’s most mysterious whales.”
Image and video credit: Niklas Manger (@nik_oceanlife), Apex Ocean Divers
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