Whale threw himself at a woman - when she understood why, she couldn't stop the tears

Animals are more courageous than humans - and this story is a classic example!

Nan Hauser has been researching and diving with whales for 28 years but never had an encounter like the one she had during a trip to the Cook Islands in the South Pacific.

Nan was on a research and photography trip. She had a crew filming her dive with a group of humpback whales. And the team was there when she got a meeting like no one had ever seen before.

One of the giant creatures swam right next to Nan and began to push her gently along the water.

"He just kept touching me", Nan said. "I tried to dodge it again and again, but he went on. In the end he just pushed me out of the water on his fin. He kept his eye on my eye and I could not understand what he was trying to tell me".

After a while Nan was already afraid and she was sure the whale was about to hit her.

"I thought the photography team was about to photograph my death", she said. "One whip of the whale's tail, and the pressure and strength will break my bones".

But it turned out that the whale was not the thing Nan had to worry about. When she looked up, she saw a tiger shark swimming around them.

All the whale was trying to do was protect and keep his new girlfriend from being attacked by the shark.

"I was sure I was going to die", Nan wrote on Facebook.

The whale took Nan on his fin and swam on his back to the boat. When the giant creature came close enough, Nan could jump from his fin to the boat.

"I just put my hands on my face and started to cry", Nan said. "I can not say whether they were tears of relief that I was alive, or because I experienced the most amazing thing I have ever seen".

Whales are known as creatures who love to help others and there are several documented cases of humpback whales that have saved other animals from ocean hazards. But this is the first recorded time in which a human being is the one they saved.

"Even though it was a totally crazy experience, I feel honored that it happened", said Nan. "It's an amazing quality that they will go straight to a dangerous situation in order to save someone else".

Whales are amazing creatures and many of them are in danger of extinction because of the bad environmental conditions in the oceans.