Endangered right whale spotted In Panama City Beach

The first North Atlantic right whale spotting during this calving season was not where scientists expected to see it.

The endangered species was spied swimming just off a sandbar in Panama City Beach on Monday, late in the season for a first sighting anywhere, much less the Gulf of Mexico.

“It was right off shore,” said Neal Hart, who took photos of the whale from his 15th story balcony of his Sterling Breeze condominium. “We watched it just pass the second sandbar — we swim out there when it’s warmer — and you could see it stir up big clouds of sand ... to see one that close to the beach for goodness sake. It was amazing.”

While female right whales travel from the coasts of Canada and New England to the south to give birth during the winter, normally they stay in the Atlantic Ocean.

The last time one was spotted in the Gulf of Mexico was 2006, according the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.