An underwater photographer has posted images of a huge, human-sized jelly fish swimming alongside his wildlife biologist colleague. The pair were caught by surprise when the giant, colorful creature swam alongside them.

Based in Cornwall, UK, underwater cinematographer Dan Abbott managed to capture the incredible moment a jellyfish swam alongside wildlife biologist Lizzie Daly. Diving on the last day of Daly’s Wild Oceans Week, an initiative aiming to raise money for the Marine Conservation Society in the UK, the pair never thought they’d encounter such a rarity. Often, jellyfish are spotted washed up on shore.

Speaking to PetaPixel, Abbott said:

We were supposed to do a blue shark dive that day, but it got canceled because of the weather. This was our plan B. Actually, it was our plan C.

He says the jellyfish stuck around for “a beautiful 25 minutes,” adding that the creature was just as stunning face-to-face. “I didn’t even know jellyfish got that big!”

My aim in those 25 minutes was to try and portray on video what I was experiencing in the water. To fill the frame and make it look as big as it felt being next to it. Getting Lizzie alongside it was very deliberate. We wanted that human story to be very strong, and she gives you a sense of scale well. Because it’s not going very fast, you can predict what sort of direction it’s going in. You can get ahead of it, underneath it — I was able to get a shot of it blocking out the sun to portray its size — and just capture it doing what it does. The way it moves is very beautiful.

Abbott recorded footage of the encounter, which you can check out on the above video.

Recalling the experience, he said:

To be able to capture that and share it with the world has been one of the most special experiences of our lives. The feeling of coming up from that dive… we both just screamed.

Get acquainted with Abbott’s work at his website, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube. For more of Daly’s Wild Ocean Week work, head to her website and Facebook.

Images courtesy Dan Abbott and used with permission.