Heroic mates rescue whale trapped off Gold Coast waters
Updated . First published at
Two Gold Coast mates have pulled off a high-stakes rescue of a humpback whale tangled in rope.
The daring effort was captured on camera, with Ryan Cavanah and Luke Esson working together to free the gentle giant.
“We love whale-watching and turtle exploring and go scuba-diving all the time,” Luke told Today.
“But we saw this whale distressed on the surface of the water while we were out jet-skiing and when I jumped in, I noticed it had rope and some fishing line wrapped around its tail.”
Luke said Ryan was good at holding his breath for longer periods, so he was tasked with diving in to cut the tangled rope and line from the whale’s tail.
“It was quicker than you’d think so trying to keep up with it was tricky, but we still managed,” Ryan said.
“It was cruising nice and slow and it was obviously exhausted… it hadn’t eaten in ages, so god knows how long it was swimming along with all that rope around it.”
Ryan added that he and his mates often went out to admire the whales and other sea life putting on a show in the water, so it was nice to pay the favour back.
“We’ve copped a bit of backlash for it already, but we decided to name her Scarlet because of the scars she had and that sounds like a tough female name,” he laughed.
“But I’ve had a bit of grief already for suggesting that name.”
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