Triathlete Encounters Orca While Swimming In New Zealand

A New Zealand triathlete came face-to-face with an orca whale.

Triathlete Nicole Walker has always felt uneasy swimming in the ocean, but it was a close encounter with an orca at Oriental Bay that really left her shaking.

Miss Walker was on a training swim about 5pm on Monday, about 80 meters from shore, when she looked down into the water after taking a breath.

“It was just looking up at me, a big black and white face. I could have touched it.”

She believes the orca was a calf, and though she “freaked out” and tried to swim as fast as she could for the shore, Miss Walker thinks the whale’s head was about 80cm wide.

Read more: Stuff.co.nz