We were just 2 n. mile from Lucinda jetty Nth Queensland when a 10-12 me Humpback Whale was spottered . I stopped the boat in case it wanted some interaction and sure enough a couple of superb breaches and soon it was circling close to our boat....just beautiful to see. While I was contemplating dropping in the water behind the boat to see if he would approach and get his photo taken under water Andrew son lept in ...undies, mask & flippers!! Having swam with Minke whales, Manta Rays, reef sharks etc I presumed he would be cautious and let the whale come to him if it wanted to. BUT NO...Andrew incorrectly swam over to the whale ,all seemed cool for a some time until Andrew ended up over its tail which hit him gently but enough to startle the whale who gave a hard flip of its tail knocking Andy quite hard . Andy limp back to the boat minus a fin with some abrasion probably from barnacles on the whales tail and bruising which will take a few weeks to heal... i think it could have been worse!!
The Humpback soon came up nose in very close to the back of the boat and stopped as if to apologise and make sure Andy was OK. He stayed around the boat until we left about an hour later. I eventualy got in before we left with my snorkel and camera but it never came closer than 5 me. Not enough to me to get a decent underwater pic in poor visibility. .........Andrews Mum is recovering!!!
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