A boat of tourists in California recently got a rare glimpse of a “mysterious” sea creature. The Monterey Bay Watch tour boat was navigating 6- to 7-foot swells over the bay’s canyon when they spotted a Cuvier’s beaked whale pop out of the waves, according to an Aug. 5 Facebook post.
“We saw it come up for 2 breaths and then this mysterious whale disappeared into the deep waters,” the post said. The whales are a rare sight in the bay, according to Monterey Bay Watch. The creatures can hold their breath for nearly four hours, and they are known to dive up to two miles underwater.
“All 3 crew members aboard have been on boats for years and it’s all their first time ever seeing this species,” the tour group wrote in the post. “This was definitely a once-in-a-lifetime encounter!!” A second post shows a photo of the “super rare” creature’s fin poking out of the water.
The sighting comes just weeks after an “incredibly rare sighting” of a pod of four to six Cuvier’s beaked whales in July, according to another Facebook post from Monterey Bay Whale Watch. Social media users and boat passengers shared their excitement about the whale on Facebook.
