Boat of tourists left 'shaking' after snorkeller launched into air by whale off Aussie coast

Max Persyn and Jacqueline Payne watched the incident unfold in the water metres away from them.

Sophie Coghill
·News Reporter
Updated ·2-min read
The tour guide is in the air behind snorkellers in the ocean near Southport, Queensland.
A tour guide was launched into the air by a whale off the coast of Southport, Queensland last week. Source: Youtube/Max and Jacqueline

A tour guide has been described as "lucky" after he was thrown one metre out of the ocean by a humpback whale last week, shocking and thrilling fellow snorkellers around him.

The man was leading a 'swim with whales' excursion off the coast of Southport on the Gold Coast and the group was delighted to be up close and personal with the whales when the incident occurred.

Snorkellers Max Persyn and Jacqueline Payne were in the water when they spotted their guide being launched in the air, catching the moment on camera for their YouTube channel.

"What just happened? Seriously what just happened? One was so close to us, all of a sudden someone was in the air on top of a freaking whale," Jacqueline said, with Max admitting he was "shaking".

Max Persyn and Jacqueline Payne smile at one another on the boat while high fiving.
Max Persyn and Jacqueline Payne were thrilled by the whale incident. Source: Youtube/Max and Jacqueline

A 15-metre, 30-tonne humpback whale had thrown the guide into the air after it used its tail to swish him up and out of the water. Screams could be heard moments after the incident, with staff from Aqua Adventures urging all the snorkellers to get back into the boat.

The man flails above the water (left) and the whale is visible behind the man as he is mid-air from the whale tail (right).
The incident was captured from many different angles. Source: Youtube/Max and Jacqueline

After everyone was out of the water and it was confirmed the guide was uninjured, they all began to share high fives and called it an "incredible encounter".

"For whales to be that interested in us and to come that close to us, obviously very close in the end, but most of the time they were just coming to a point where they were just a few metres away from us... visibility was bad and they would need to come close, they really did," a staff member said after the incident.

"That was one of the best whale experiences you could ever get, you guys are incredibly lucky... It was a pretty amazing trip."

Yahoo News has reached out to Max Persyn and Aqua Adventures for comment.

Watch the moment here:

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