While out paddleboarding off the California coast, Bill Clements had an unlikely visitor swim next to him for more than an hour—a blue whale.

A video shared on Bill Clements' Instagram account, @paddlegoat, showed the moment he realized the blue whale was just a few feet away from his board and the excitement he felt.

"Thee most INCREDIBLE encounter I've ever had paddling," read the caption of the video. "For over an hour I paddled with the LARGEST mammal on the planet!"

According to the NOAA Fisheries, blue whales are the largest animals to live on the planet and are found in all oceans, except the Arctic Ocean.

On the west coast, eastern North Pacific blue whales typically spend winter off the coast of Mexico and Central America. Blue whales with calves are often seen in the Gulf of California between December and March.

Although modern commercial whaling reduced the number of blue whales in the early 1900s, populations have begun to increase around the world.

"The primary threats blue whales currently face are vessel strikes and entanglements in fishing gear," the NOAA Fisheries said.

The video opens when Clements first spots the giant whale swimming next to him.

"Oh my god!" he exclaimed as the top of the whale briefly broke through the surface to spout water. "Holy s**t!"

Clements vocalized his disbelief for the rest of the video as he showed the whale that continued to swim just feet away from him. At one point, the whale swam under his board.

"He's right underneath me," he said.

Plunging the camera underwater, Clements showed viewers how close the whale was to him.

"Fear was overshadowed with excitement as I was in awe to be in the presence of this amazing creature," he said in his caption. "I still have chills!"

Clements wrote to Newsweek that he was paddling outside of Dana Point Harbor. He has previously encountered gray whales, a humpback whale and a minke whale, but this was his first encounter with a blue whale.

While there were some moments Clements said he was nervous he might get knocked off of his board, he said it has been a dream of his to see a blue whale while paddling.

He described the whale as "docile" and "friendly."

Clements said he was about five miles offshore—a distance he does not recommend for average paddlers—when he spotted the whale. The two remained together for about two and a half miles before they went their separate ways.

"After some time I realized that this whale was curious and intentionally staying in the vicinity to check me out," Clements said.

He said he was grateful to have experienced the moment alone without boats around but was initially surprised.

"Perhaps it was a coincidence that the whale surfaced beside me the first time," Clements said. "But after five, six times, it was clear that this was intentional behavior."

Even now, he said he gets chills when he thinks about the encounter and wants to see what he can do to protect blue whales.

Viewers were just as stunned as Clements.

"What a ride!" an Instagram user wrote. "So JEALOUS."

"Absolutely incredible," another wrote. "And so is your joy. Beautiful."

"What an amazing and emotional experience that was," one viewer said.

This is not the first video to go viral of an encounter between humans and marine life.

In early August, a video showed a young whale swimming up to and around a canoe.

And just after that, a video captured a rare sighting of an ocean sunfish just off the coast of Massachusetts.

In May, a video resurfaced and was shared on Reddit's "Interesting as F**k" forum, showing the moment that a humpback whale emerged from the water at an Alaskan marina.

Updated 09/02/2022, 5:00 p.m. ET: This story has been updated with comments from Bill Clements and additional information.

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