A Whale of a Boxing Day Story - Humpback rescued off Spanish Wells

The "Cove Boys" attempting to rescue the humpback.

(Eleuthera, The Bahamas) - On Boxing Day, December 26, 2009, Kirk Jr., Jake and Patricia Aulin were out fishing in their 34ft Hydra, off Spanish Wells when they had an adventure of a lifetime, fit for a movie script.
 
As the trio were making their way back home, they spotted what they thought may have been a whale blowing, about 1/2 mile offshore.
 
Cautiously venturing a bit closer, they discovered that not only was it a large Humpback whale, but unfortunately the exhausted mammal was all tangled up in a fishing net.
 
At this point the Aulins, approached the barnacle covered, trapped whale and positioned their boat alongside it to attempt to simply free it of the net.  They then noticed, however, that the net was caught up all along its 40ft body, from mouth to tail.

Without any diving equipment, they had ruled out water entry as an option and backed off to contemplate their next move. The Aulins then made a second approach, with the hope of using a gaff to pull the ropes, thereby, setting the giant free. They did successfully manage to cut most of the ropes but with only two remaining, the animal, with improved mobility, started to make its path to freedom more difficult. The group tried repeatedly for over an hour and a half to remove the final tethers, but, with no success, decided they would need more assistance.

Close up of the whale taken by Patricia Aulin during the rescue.

They called upon a friend "Geoff" from Spanish Wells who they had seen fishing.  He arrived with another 22ft boat captained by "Tyson" (Tyson Newbold) also from Spanish Wells. The boats then got on either side of the whale as Kirk Jr. and Jake tried cutting the last two ropes, but with the whale diving at this point it couldn't be done.
 
Eventually they came to the decision that someone would have to jump into the water to cut the two ropes.
With dive equipment in his boat, Tyson jumped in and according to the account provided to The Eleutheran, he jumped "onto the back of the whale and cut the last two ropes as the whale dove down".  He and the net returned to the surface and the freed whale was away.
 
This was most certainly a once in a lifetime occurrence and the group said they all felt great for saving the Humpback whale.

Kirk Jr.and Jake Aulin, are affectionately known as “The Cove Boys” as the Aulin family are from the Cove Hotel outside Gregory Town, Eleuthera.
 
Humpback whales are found in coastal waters worldwide and are known for their water acrobatics and unusual 'songs' which can be heard for several miles under water. They migrate seasonally from temperate and polar feeding grounds to their tropical and subtropical breeding and calving locations in winter. There are believed to be anywhere from 30,000 to 40,000 individuals worldwide with the largest adults growing up to 50 feet long and weighing as much as 48 tons.