Lucky tourists swim with pod of sperm whales (video)

Sperm Whale Close Encounter: Tourists Swim With Gentle Giants

A group of lucky tourists experienced the swim of a lifetime - as they interacted with a pod of majestic sperm whales off the coast of a Caribbean island.

Filmed near the shores of island country Dominica, this incredible footage was shot by US videographer Patrick Dykstra, 35, who has been photographing whales for over ten years.

As well as filming the friendly mammals below the surface, Patrick managed to capture the magnificent creatures from above the water using a drone.

The Denver-born filmmaker runs a sea safari that allows small groups of tourists the opportunity to swim with these giants of the sea.

He said: "These kind of trips are really fun. We all gather on a large catamaran boat that could hold 50 people, but I take a maximum of four guests, and head out to sea each morning.

"The whales are usually no more than five miles from shore socialising in small family pods and feeding on squid in the area.

"You have to be very careful in how you approach them in the boat and as a swimmer because, while social, they can also be scared quite easily.

"These particular sperm whales in Dominica have been studied by researchers for many years and you can see that certain individuals are a lot more calm around people, and downright curious in fact."

He added: "Some of that has to do with the individual personality of the whales and some has to do with certain animals being more used to human contact."