A kayaker in New Zealand had a closer encounter with a seal than he had bargained for. In an incident that can only be described as completely unexpected, a seal slapped an unsuspecting Kyle Mulinder in the face with an octopus tentacle.

Taiyo Masuda. who was with Mulinder on a GoPro-funded kayaking trip to New Zealand’s Kaikoura Island on September 22, shot the video that has people in splits.

“Right around lunchtime, several seals started to swim around, we just thought they were refreshing their body, yet apparently they were seeking food,” Masuda told Yahoo 7. “One seal swims right next to us, having an octopus in his mouth, pops right up to the surface next to us, then tries to chew up the leg but ended up slapping our face!!”

The two animals then disappeared back into the water. “I was like ‘mate, what just happened?’ It was weird because it happened so fast but I could feel all the hard parts of the octopus on my face like ‘dum dum dum’,” Mulinder said.