It is the question we are asked more than almost any other at the booking desk, and people are usually surprised by the answer.
Can you swim with humpback whales in Australia? Yes, you can, but only in a small number of places and only with an operator permitted to run it. Everywhere else the law keeps you well back, and most people who ask us have no idea those rules exist at all. Here is how it actually works.
The short answer
Swimming with humpback whales is legal in Australia, but it is tightly controlled and it is not something a business can simply decide to offer. The default position, the one that applies to you as a member of the public, keeps you well away from the animal. A permit is what changes that, and permits are not handed out freely.
We hold one for Jervis Bay, which is why our Swim with Whales experience exists at all.
The rules that apply to everyone else
In New South Wales the distances are set by the Biodiversity Conservation Regulation 2017 and enforced by NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, which also publishes them as plain-English approach distances. The ones that matter here:
- You must not enter the water within 100 metres of a whale. This is the rule that decides whether you can get in at all, and it is the one almost nobody knows
- Once you are lawfully in the water, you must not approach closer than 30 metres
- On a vessel, 100 metres. A kayak, a surf ski, a surfboard and a paddle board all count as vessels
- The caution zone around any whale is 300 metres, and where a calf is present a vessel may not enter that zone at all
- On a jet ski, 300 metres, whatever the whale is doing
That first one is the one people get wrong. Seeing a blow from the beach and swimming out for a look is not a grey area, and neither is paddling over on a board.
The rules do allow for the whale making its own decisions. If one comes within 30 metres of you while you are in the water, you must move slowly to avoid startling it, and you must not touch it or move towards it. The obligation is always on the person, never the animal.
None of that is red tape for its own sake. A humpback is a bus-sized animal with a tail that moves faster than you do, and no idea how fragile you are.
What a permit actually changes
Australian wildlife law works by making an act an offence for everybody, then allowing a licence that authorises it under conditions. A permit does not switch the rules off. It swaps a blanket distance for a set of conditions the operator has to work inside, and it puts the obligation on them to know what they are doing.
So a permitted operator is not selling you closer access to a whale. They are selling you the judgement to know when an encounter is right for the animal, and the discipline to call it off when it is not. Ours runs on the same principle every one of our cruises has for years. We never chase.
Where can you swim with humpback whales in Australia?
Not many, and that is the honest answer. Each state sets its own marine wildlife rules, and in New South Wales very few operators are authorised to run an in-water whale experience at all.
Jervis Bay is one of the places you can. The bay sits on the Humpback Highway, the route tens of thousands of humpbacks travel each year between Antarctica and the Queensland breeding grounds, and the continental shelf runs close enough to shore that they pass near land rather than miles out. Sydney and Canberra are both about two and a half hours away.
The part nobody can promise you
These are wild animals in open water. Nobody can guarantee you will get in with a humpback whale, and an operator who tells you otherwise is selling something they do not control.
A good day looks like this. You go out with a crew who know the coast, you look for whales, and if their behaviour and the conditions allow it, you get in. Sometimes the whales are travelling hard. Sometimes the swell says no. On our trip there is a package for guests who would rather stay on board, which exists precisely because not every trip ends with a swim. You would still be out on one of the best stretches of coastline in the country, with dolphins, Australian fur seals and sea birds there all year.
Would you rather watch from the deck?
Plenty of people ask this question, read the answer and decide the water is not for them. That is completely reasonable, and it is not a lesser day out. Our Jervis Bay whale cruise puts you among the same whales from a stable deck, with a guide and no swimming involved. If you are weighing the two up, our crew have written about the best time of day to see whales in Jervis Bay.
Common questions about swimming with humpback whales
Can you swim with humpback whales in Australia?
Yes, but only in a small number of places and only with an operator that holds a permit to run an in-water whale experience. Without one, the general approach distances apply to everybody.
How close can you legally get to a whale in NSW?
You must not enter the water within 100 metres of a whale. Once you are lawfully in the water, you must not approach closer than 30 metres. A vessel must stay 100 metres away, and no vessel may enter the 300 metre caution zone around a whale with a calf. These distances are set by the Biodiversity Conservation Regulation 2017 and enforced by NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service.
Can you swim with whales in NSW without a permitted tour?
No. The rule against entering the water within 100 metres of a whale applies to every member of the public. If you are on a kayak or a paddle board you count as a vessel, and the distance is the same 100 metres.
Do you have to be a strong swimmer?
You should be comfortable swimming in the ocean. This happens in open water off the coast, not in a sheltered pool.
What if we do not get in the water?
It happens, and we say so up front. The whales and the conditions decide it, not us. You still get the day on the water, and there is a package for guests who plan to stay on board from the start.
Before you book, anywhere
Ask any operator, in any state, whether they are permitted to put you in the water with a whale. It is a fair question and a good one answers it straight away.
Humpbacks have only been back in these numbers for a few decades, and the rules are a large part of why. So yes, you can swim with humpback whales in Australia, and it is worth doing properly.
Read what the day actually involves on our Swim with Whales in Jervis Bay page.
