Another exciting whale watching season is upon us. The big mammals are coming in from their winter grounds, which means now until the fall is the best time to get a glimpse of them blowing their stacks or simply gorging on small fish.

To get you amped up for the season, here are seven amazing encounters between people and whales at the Shore.

Last August, long-time friends William Sobeck Jr. and Jonathan Swingle were in the ocean leisurely fishing for fluke when a whale reportedly bumped the boat and tossed them overboard.

The two men were rescued by good samaritan Gary Szabo, a retired Trenton firefighter. The boat, which was overturned by the force of the whale, was towed to land.

Both Sobeck Jr., 64, of Brick and Swingle, 64, of Hamilton were reportedly uninjured in the freak encounter.

Captain Mike Formichella was fishing off Long Branch last May when he took what might be the video of his lifetime: a whale doing a 360-degree twist in the ocean.

The Neptune-based captain of Shark Inlet Charters said he was trying for striped bass and not having much luck when the whale made the aerial display near his boat, which can be seen in the above video.

Formichella said he was 2 miles off the Long Branch beach and in 65 feet of water.

3 Giant whale near the Bayshore

Craziest experience ever!

That is how Paul Ziolkowski of Atlantic Highlands, whose pseudonym is "Pauly Walnuts" on Facebook, described his encounter with a humpback whale to an Asbury Park Press reporter two years ago.

Ziolkowski was on a boat near the entrance to New York Harbor when a whale actually brushed the side of the 19-foot boat he was fishing in with three friends.

The whale came up for a mouthful of fish and actually knocked a baitfish called a menhaden into the boat. Ziolowski caught in all on video and lived to tell the tale.

Learn about whales at the Jersey Shore in the 10-minute documentary below.

Allenhurst was the place to be one Saturday morning three years ago for whales, fishermen and photography.

That was where photographer Tim Torchia, of Ocean Township, was when he captured a stunning picture of two whales breaching near the charter boat Fish Stix.

Torchia was shooting still frames from the beach.

The boat's owner and captain Kris Black saw the picture later and called it "an insane shot," of "nature at its best."

Black, however, said at the time he was only aware of the one whale off the stern, and never saw the second whale in the photo that breached off his bow.

A team of federal responders successfully disentangled a distressed humpback whale in the Sandy Hook Bay last July in a high-stakes, intricate operation that may have saved the animal's life.

The more than 30-foot-long juvenile whale had been spotted for months in the Raritan and Sandy Hook bays with a piece of gill net, a type of netting used in commercial fishing, wrapped around its mouth and forming a closed loop around its blowhole.

After the whale was spotted by a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter off the northern tip of Sandy Hook, a team of federal, state and local authorities raced to the scene with six boats and a 40-person crew.

6 Boater said whale collided with his vessel

In November 2016 a fisherman off the coast of Asbury Park in 50 feet of water alleged his 17-foot Mako outboard was rammed by a whale. The encounter left a large crack in the fiberglass, according to the boat's owner, Nick Petrucha of Belmar.

7 Whale emerges in Lavallette

A man was surf fishing in Lavallette when a whale emerged a couple of hundred yards from the beach, scooped up a mouthful of prey fish and when back under the water. The surf fishermen captured it all on film.

We'd love to hear from you

Please send us your amazing photos and videos of marine wildlife that you see at the Shore this season. We'd love to share it on our many platforms. Submit photos to dradel@gannettnj.com or newstips@app.com.

Dan Radel: @danielradelapp; 732-643-4072; dradel@gannettnj.com