{"id":916,"date":"2025-07-16T20:24:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-16T20:24:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/916\/"},"modified":"2025-07-16T20:24:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-16T20:24:09","slug":"inquisitive-relaxed-humpback-whale-swimming-in-sydney-harbour-delays-ferries-and-boats-whales","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/916\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Inquisitive, relaxed\u2019 humpback whale swimming in Sydney Harbour delays ferries and boats | Whales"},"content":{"rendered":"

An \u201cinquisitive\u201d humpback whale that wandered from its usual migratory route and into the centre of Sydney<\/a> Harbour is causing \u201cnavigational challenges\u201d for ferries and vessels as its tour of the world-famous harbour continues.<\/p>\n

The sub-adult whale was spotted by commuters on a harbour ferry service near Fort Denison about 8am on Wednesday. It swam to Circular Quay \u2013 Sydney\u2019s central ferry terminal \u2013 before moving east towards the defence base of Garden Island then to Watsons Bay and north to Balmoral Bay.<\/p>\n

\"HumpbackHumpback whale seen in Sydney Harbour \u2013 video<\/p>\n

By late afternoon on Wednesday, the humpback had again looped west before doubling back to Rose Bay in Sydney\u2019s east.<\/p>\n

Speaking from a New South Wales Maritime boat shadowing the creature, the whale expert Dr Vanessa Pirotta said it was \u201cnot every day a whale takes a detour and hangs out in Watsons Bay\u201d.<\/p>\n

Its harbour trip was posing a \u201cnavigational challenge\u201d for ferries and vessels, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cNSW Maritime and NSW National Parks and Wildlife<\/a> are literally escorting a school bus-sized mammal out of the harbour,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s so easy for vessels to strike whales.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey do things when you least expect it \u2013 [we\u2019re] making sure it has space and is escorted out of the harbour, because this one is very inquisitive.\u201d<\/p>\n

A NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service spokesperson said its crews were in small boats moving alongside the whale as it swam freely in the harbour.<\/p>\n

To avoid accidental collisions and to keep the animal safe in the \u201cvery busy city harbour\u201d, they said the vessels stay in formation to the side and rear of the whale to mark an exclusion zone and stop other vessels from getting too close.<\/p>\n

\"HumpbackHumpback whale in Sydney Harbour followed by NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service \u2013 video<\/p>\n

Transport for NSW said the whale caused minimal delays and disruption to its F3 Parramatta service at about 9am. Ferries were not being affected on Wednesday afternoon, but Transport<\/a> for NSW was \u201ckeeping a close eye\u201d on the whale\u2019s movements.<\/p>\n

A Transport for NSW Maritime spokesperson said it was managing ferry and other boat traffic to allow safe passage of the whale through the harbour.<\/p>\n

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While it\u2019s not unusual for a whale to briefly leave the \u201chumpback highway\u201d running up and down Australia\u2019s east coast<\/a> \u2013 four humpbacks have been seen in the harbour this migratory season, Pirotta said \u2013 it was \u201ccrazy\u201d for the creatures to be as inquisitive and explorative as this one.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost will hang out around Manly and then work out it\u2019s not in the right place and swim away, but this one is having the full harbour experience,\u201d Pirotta said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the most inquisitive whale. It\u2019s thin but, from its behaviour, it\u2019s very relaxed.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Balmoral Bay on Sydney\u2019s north shore, the whale was on Wednesday afternoon seen swimming close to a paddle boarder with onlookers watching from the beach.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis whale continues to surprise me,\u201d Pirotta said. \u201cIt\u2019s just hanging out and in such shallow water \u2013 I\u2019d expect this from a southern right whale, not a humpback whale.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said the whale\u2019s condition \u2013 which she described as \u201cOK\u201d \u2013 suggested it was migrating south and that it might have entered the harbour overnight.<\/p>\n

Pirotta said the Wild Sydney Harbour project had \u201cdelivered\u201d after commuters spotted the whale. One social media user said the whale had delayed a ferry on Wednesday morning.<\/p>\n

The sighting was a chance to gather data and photos of the creature, Pirotta said, adding that every time she watched whales she learned \u201cso much more about them\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An \u201cinquisitive\u201d humpback whale that wandered from its usual migratory route and into the centre of Sydney Harbour…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":917,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[49,48,66,323],"class_list":{"0":"post-916","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-science","11":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/916","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=916"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/916\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/917"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=916"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=916"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=916"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}