A Morning of Discovery: My Encounter with an Entangled Humpback Whale

Scott Robert

Aug 17

5 min read

Updated: Oct 11

Saturday, 8 August 2026

Some mornings, I head to the coast with my drone, hoping to find whales. Saturday morning turned into something completely different.

I woke up early for sunrise and made my way to Ballina. My goal was to photograph some of the humpbacks migrating along the coastline. Earlier that week, a heavily entangled humpback whale had been spotted off Yamba. It had continued traveling north, and despite multiple people keeping watch, locating one whale in such a vast ocean is incredibly challenging.

I knew it was out there somewhere. I just didn't expect to be fortunate enough to find it.

Finding the Whale

At around 7:15 AM, while scanning the ocean, I spotted a whale that immediately caught my attention. Once I positioned the drone over it, I realized this was the whale everyone had been searching for.

A long rope was wrapped around its body, pinning both pectoral fins against its sides. Despite the severity of the entanglement, the whale could still move its tail freely and was traveling at a surprisingly fast pace.

I contacted the Sea World Foundation to let them know I had located the whale. What began as a normal morning of filming whales quickly escalated into a significant operation.

Sea World Foundation mobilized their specialist rescue team while I kept track of the whale's movements from the coastline. The whale had already traveled a considerable distance, and maintaining a visual on it was crucial for the rescue team to reach it.

WATCH MY FOOTAGE FROM THE DAY

Instagram Reel

Tracking It Towards Byron Bay

Keeping track of a traveling humpback from land isn't as easy as it sounds. A whale can disappear below the surface for several minutes, change direction, and then surface somewhere completely different.

After my initial sighting, I contacted my friend Tina, known as @Byronbaydaily on Instagram, and asked her to keep watch further north. She was able to pick up the whale again off Broken Head, around 400 metres from shore, giving us another crucial location as it continued towards Byron Bay.

I repositioned further north myself. By this stage, I was in direct contact with Sea World Foundation while their team was off the cape searching for the whale. I could see the Sea World rescue boat from Tallows Beach, and once I finally found the entangled whale, I called them and sent a pinpoint of exactly where it was—1 km off Cape Byron.

I then made my way up towards the lighthouse to get a better signal and a clear view of the rescue to document this extraordinary event.

Seeing the Entanglement from Above

From the drone, the extent of the entanglement was confronting. The large rope ran around the whale's girth, trapping both pectoral fins against its body. Sea World Foundation described the configuration as effectively having the whale “hogtied.”

Yet, it was still swimming strongly. Its tail remained free, allowing the whale to continue moving at a pace of 9-11 km per hour. This made it extremely difficult for the rescue team to safely get close enough to work on the rope.

To complicate matters, two other humpbacks accompanied the entangled whale. Witnessing this was incredible but posed another challenge for the rescue crew. They had to position the vessel close enough to work on the entanglement while constantly accounting for the other whales moving around them.

Watching everything unfold from above gave me a completely different appreciation for how precise this type of rescue needs to be.

The Rescue

The Sea World Foundation team first attached two large buoys to the entanglement. These created additional drag and helped slow the whale enough for the team to work closer to it.

They then had to determine which section of rope needed to be cut. This wasn’t something that could be rushed. Making the wrong cut could potentially allow the whale to swim away while still carrying part of the entanglement.

Eventually, the team maneuvered alongside the whale and reached the rope near its right pectoral fin. One successful cut was made, and the entanglement was released.

The rope across the whale's upper body came away, freeing its pectoral fins and allowing it to swim normally again. I followed the whale after the entanglement was released with the drone to ensure that there was nothing left still attached. I was then able to relay to Sea World via call that the whale was free!

Although I was changing batteries and couldn't film the final cut, I was able to check the whale to ensure nothing else remained on its body. After spending the morning watching this animal travel with its fins pinned against its sides, seeing it swim freely was an incredible moment.

More Than Just Filming Whales

I spend a huge amount of time on the NSW coastline photographing and filming whales and other marine life. Most of the time, the drone is simply my camera.

Saturday was a reminder that sometimes it can become something more. Being able to see kilometres of coastline from above, identify an individual whale, and provide accurate updates on its movements can give rescue teams something incredibly valuable.

Wayne Phillips later said the aerial assistance was crucial in locating the whale. Sea World Foundation had been tracking it for several days before it was finally found again on Saturday morning.

I want to be clear that the actual disentanglement was carried out by the trained and experienced Sea World Foundation rescue team. My role was to help locate, track, and provide an aerial perspective of the whale as the team worked to reach and ultimately free it. It was a privilege to contribute.

A Huge Thank You to the Sea World Foundation Team

Watching Wayne and the entire team work around a moving nine-metre humpback while two companion whales traveled alongside it showed just how much skill and patience goes into these rescues.

What looks like a few moments in a social media video represents hours of searching, tracking, repositioning, assessing the entanglement, and waiting for the right opportunity to safely make a cut.

For me, the best part of the entire experience wasn't the footage. It was seeing the whale with no rope at the end and watching it continue along the coast with its fins free again.

I had gone out that morning hoping to photograph whales at sunrise. Instead, I happened to be in the right place at the right time to help find one that desperately needed assistance.

That's a morning on the coast I won't forget.