Killer Whales Seen Surrounding Woman Swimmer In Drone Footage [Video]

A woman swimmer in New Zealand had a close encounter with killer whales as she took a dip off the coast of Coromandel in Hahei. A drone footage shows a pod of orca whales surrounding the woman.

Judie Johnson told local media that she never expected something like this to happen to her. At first, she was frightened and quickly swam to shore fearing the orcas would harm her.

"There was a shape that went under me, like a huge shape and I thought [it was] dolphins and I was quite excited, and then I saw the great white color on the back,” she told New Zealand's 1 NEWS of the experience. "I was also thinking they eat seals and I’m in a black wetsuit."

But moments later, she decided to jump back into the water to complete her swim as she was curious about the animals.

When she started swimming for the second time, the killer whales again surrounded her, the drone video captured by Australian tourist Dylan Brayshaw shows, according to 1 NEWS.

"It was so different to anything that’s happened to me before, and I thought, no, this is a life-changing experience,” Johnson recalled. "They were as interested and curious about me as I was about them.”

Killer whales, or orca, are the largest members of the dolphin family. Orca whales are carnivores — they feed on seals, sea lions and sometimes other whales, according to National Geographic. According to Whale Facts, killer whales don't attack humans and there have been no reported instances of the predators eating a human.

Some extremely rare attacks could have likely taken place because an orca mistook a human for a seal.

In a similar incident in November, spearfisherman Rowan Virbickas came in close contact with a different family of orcas while collecting sea urchin. During this time as well, the killer whales — three adults and a baby — swam around him in playful circles. He managed to capture the encounter on his GoPro.