Whale accused of 'mugging' tourists off Aussie coast: 'It's quite rare'

A group of tourists were "literally held hostage" by a humpback whale on Friday morning after the curious mammal circled a boat off the east coast, forcing the captain to do nothing but float due to environmental laws.

For almost an hour, captain and marine biologist Cassie Murray, 31, was forced to simply cut the boat's power supply and watch in awe as the giant whale "hung around" the boat near Manly in Sydney. However, she said the trip had started like any other.

"We don't use any kind of technology to find the whales, we're just looking with our eyes," the captain from the whale watching company Ocean Extreme told Yahoo News. "We're always looking for the blow, which is the breath of the whale. That's typically how we spot them... then this whale made a turn towards the boat

"It just kind of hung around and circled the boat and spy-hopped, which is when they lift their head up out of the water to take a look around," she said.

There were "constant screams of excitement" from those on board and Murray, who has over 10 years of experience in the industry, admitted it was one of her best-ever whale-watching experiences.

"It was very, very special," she said. "It was just watching us watch it, basically."

Whale accused of 'mugging' the tourists

Due to wildlife protection laws, Murray was legally required to cut the power to prevent the boat's propellers from hitting the whale — a situation known as a 'mugging'.

"The [whale] behaviour we experienced, it's called a mugging because, essentially, the boats are being held hostage by the whales, we can't move," she said. "You're being held hostage by the whale. But it's like, the best kind of hostage situation possible."

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Whales migrate along the east coast during a large stretch of the year as they travel north for warmer waters to breed, then south again to feed, but having this experience in Sydney is "rare", Murray explained.

"For us in Sydney, it's quite rare because we are very much on the migration path. So 95 per cent of our trips, we just see the whales cruising past," she said "This whale took the time to stop and just kind of mill about in one spot."

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