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Stunning footage captured the moment a husband and wife got up close to a whale shark in an incredible encounter off the coast of New Zealand.

In the footage, Caitie Mora can be seen swimming right alongside the animal, before the shark swims under the bow of her boat. “He’s huge!” Caitie’s husband Andrew exclaims in the video.

The couple also captured underwater footage showing the shark up close.

“On our way home from the Alderman Islands, we were keeping an eye out for manta [rays] and spotted the whale shark. In this area it’s basically unheard of so we leapt in for a closer look,” Caitie told Storyful.

“The water has been warmer than usual bringing in the krill so we have also had manta rays too, which is not super common,” she said. Credit: Caitie Mora via Storyful