A SOUTH East fisherman was at the right place at the right time on Friday when he sighted a Humpback Whale off the Port MacDonnell coastline.
Bohdi Pannenburg and his girlfriend Jazz Miller were fishing for tuna when they spotted the whale.
The pair were around six kilometres offshore when the whale started to approach their small boat.
“We were sitting over a bait ball when the whale swam right up to us,” he said.
“We stopped the motor straight away and stayed where we were as it swam underneath the boat trying to get to the bait.
“It did not touch the boat but at one point it was only a metre away.”
Mr Pannenburg said he was surprised to see the whale come as close as it did to his vessel.
“During my last eight to 10 trips to sea, I would confidently say I have seen a whale nearly every time,” he said.
“We see plenty of them out there but I have never seen any come as close as this one did.
Mr Pannenburg said after about 10 minutes the whale swam away.
“It was interesting and definitely a cool experience,” he said.
“We were also only in a small 5.2-metre boat.
“We could see this one was watching us and it would come up, throw itself on its side and then turn away while looking.”
“My GoPro captured it very clearly which is something I will be able to keep forever,” he said.
“It also attracted some seal and tuna which surrounded us at the time.
“Unfortunately the whale did not help us with our fish on the day as we ended up losing all three tuna we hooked.”
Mr Pannenburg said he understood the regulation was if a whale was spotted a vessel’s motor had to be stopped and the driver was not allowed to deliberately approach the whale within 100 metres.
According to the Department for Environment and Water, during the June to November period, Humpbacks move up the west and east coasts of Australia towards warmer waters from the Antarctic.
The department said it was common to see a Humpback move through South Australian waters during these months and again on their journey back south.
The department added many species of whales could be observed in the South East waters, including off Port MacDonnell, particularly during the region’s Bonney up-welling season.
