Ocean rower, Tom Waddington, gets a once in a lifetime experience as a large pod of whales surrounds his boat and follow him for hours.

The British solo ocean rower, Tom Waddington, was some 100 nautical miles off of Newfoundland when a massive group of whales surrounded his boat and followed him for more than two hours.

“Wow, that is so cool,” he said while capturing the experience on video. “I love it, but I’m scared they’re gonna hit my rudder.”

“They’re so close I can hear them,” he added. “They’re blowing bubbles, look!”

The whales appeared at a moment when Waddington was feeling a bit low, he said, after a morning full of rain.

“What a special treat,” he said on the video. “I’ve seen loads of whales, but they’ve just come to say hello.”

One of the whales slammed into the side of his boat. “And I was like, Oh my God. And suddenly it turned from David Attenborough into Moby Dick. And I was really scared.”

Fortunately Waddington and his boat came to no harm during the encounter. He continues to make good progress towards Penzance.

Waddington is rowing across the Atlantic Ocean from Newfoundland to Penzance in the United Kingdom. He hopes to set a new world record as well as raise money and awareness for the British mental health charity Mind.