Many people see manatees as scary creatures since they live deep in the dark ocean. In reality, however, they are the complete opposite of this, as they are incredibly friendly!

An adorable video is going viral showing a manatee pop up to say hello to two paddle boarders!

Captain John Pann is the manager at the Crystal River Plantation Adventure Center, which is a place where people can swim with manatees. He explained that interacting with manatees can be a life changing experience for humans.

“It’s a life-changing experience for some folks,” he said. “You get in the water, you see how friendly and loving they are, you’re much more likely to want to protect that animal. You’ll never speed through a manatee zone again.”

The paddle boarders in this video completely agree with this. They even got to hold hands with the manatee as he held onto their boards! The manatee clearly could not get enough of his new human friends.

The video has quickly gone mega-viral, being viewed over six million times!

“So cute. It would’ve hard not to touch him being he is adorable,” one social media user wrote, with another adding, “That is so very awesome.. so special that they got experience that.. thank you so much for sharing ..made my day brighter..”

“How utterly fantastic!” wrote a third user. “They are so beautiful, peaceful, empathetic… they represent what this planet is really all about. What an experience – brilliant.”

Check out the heartwarming video for yourself below!