VIDEO: Whales surprise paddleboarders off coast of Laguna Beach

LAGUNA BEACH, Calif. -- Nature is full of surprises as a group of paddleboarders in Orange County quickly discovered when they got an up-close encounter with whales.

Rich German and his friends were paddleboarding off the coast of Laguna Beach when they were met by four gray whales.

The whales, two mothers and two calves, were migrating north from Baja to Alaska.

The mother whales hug the coast to keep their babies safe from orcas farther out to sea.