Anyone who has gone on a whale watching excursion knows that it can be either a hit or miss experience. While some fortunate seafarers may end up getting up close and personal with a pod of these giants, others come back with absolutely no ‘white whale stories’ to speak of—it really is the luck of the draw.

With that being said, there have been plenty of mind-blowing whale sightings, with incredible footage to prove it. Today, we are going to take a look at a viral clip that is sweeping the Internet—tape of humpback whales exhibiting behavior that is so rare, this may actually be the first time it has ever been captured on film!

Professional diver, Craig Capehart, and a slew of his buddies were recently in a small rubberized boat off of the Eastern Cape province of South Africa, looking for their next thrill in the form of sardines. You see, divers are known to ‘chase’ migrating pods of sardines in boats, as the presence of the little fish alerts them to the best underwater sea life viewing opportunities.

While the four scuba enthusiasts didn’t end up with the best diving day, they did see more than they ever could have ever bargained for ABOVE the water.

During the course of their day-long marine excursion, the group was able to nab footage of several humpback whales displaying exceptionally spirited behavior, including a mother and a calf swimming furiously through the waves, and even a 40 TON (yup, you read that right!), male humpback performing a full breach—completely out of the water…

Yep, we are picking our jaws up off the floor right now, too!

And, while it looks like these majestic creatures are putting on a show for the unsuspecting divers, it turns out that their eye-popping movements were likely performed with one motivation in mind—communication.

According to the marine mammal experts at the University of California Santa Barbara, scientists have several hypotheses’ when it comes to decoding this particular whale behavior; but, most evidence points to a special splashing sound called ‘signaling’, a method of communication that allows many different species of marine animals to connect. So cool!

The monumental full breach

In the video’s description, Capehart makes the claim that this is the first time that a full breach of this kind by a humpback whale has been caught on film. We took it upon ourselves to do a bit of digging, and it seems that the diver is right.

While there is plenty of spectacular breaching footage, we, too, were unable to find anything that shows a humpback out of the ocean, practically parallel to the water’s surface. Truly amazing stuff!

Now that you know how this lucky diver was able to snag images of this rare sight, it’s time for you to see the humpback whale breaching-fest for yourself. Just click on Craig Capehart’s video below to witness this incredible phenomenon. We hope we get the chance to see something so spectacular one day!

Have you gotten the opportunity to see whales in the wild before? If so, did you see any breaching? What is your favorite type of whale?