Watch: 'Absolutely breathtaking' footage of fin whales and dolphin pod off Waterford coast

A screengrab from Colm Gallagher, Harry Power and Odhran Power's video. Picture: Odhran Gallagher Via WLR FM/Facebook

Amazing footage of fin whales and a pod of dolphins swimming next to a boat off the Waterford coast is garnering a lot of clicks online today. 

The footage was captured by Odhran Power, Harry Power, and Colm Gallagher as they sailed a rib two miles off the coast of Portalley, Waterford yesterday afternoon. 

In the video, a pod of dolphins is seen swimming and diving beside the three men's boat.

Later, the lads spot two large fin whales breaching and swimming nearby. 

Speaking on WLR FM, Colm Gallagher explained that they couldn't spot the whales when they first set out. 

He said: “We were looking for the whales, but we couldn’t find them at the start, but there were loads of dolphins, hundreds of dolphins.

“We got a call from a friend who was telling us she could see the whales from the coast, so we went where she said that they were.

“Then these magnificent creatures were just emerging out of the water, and it was just fantastic to see - absolutely amazing."

Mr Gallagher said that clear water and fine weather provided the perfect conditions to film the creatures.

As for the whales, Mr Gallagher said the group caught sound of the large mammals before they saw them.

He said: “You could nearly hear them before you see them, so you could locate where they are. 

And as you get closer to them, you can just see the spray coming up from the water, and then the back of this magnificent creature appearing in front of your eyes.

“They’re fin whales, the fin whale and humpback whale normally come in this time of the year.

“The fin whale is the second or third-biggest in the world, and the humpback whale is more active - it would breach out of the water - they can reach up to 55 or 60 foot long.

Mr Gallagher said that the two whales that he Harry and Odhran managed to film seemed to be travelling together.

"One would come out of the water, and then seconds later the other would do the exact same.

“It was absolutely breathtaking."

You can watch the spectacular footage for yourself below: 

- You can also watch the footage on the WLR FM [url=https://www.facebook.com/wlrfm/videos/349886526306414/]Facebook page[/url]