Whitsunday resident Wayne Fewing reported Friday that he and his family saw rare white humpack whales at the entrance of Cid Harbour in the Whitsunday Passage last Saturday.

The Fewings were aboard their dinghy when they saw a calf approaching.

"All of a sudden this white whale popped its head up about 150 metres away from our runabout. ... It keep popping its head up and started swimming closer to the boat," Fewing told the Whitsunday Times.

For about 10 to 15 minutes the baby whale played around and jumped in and out of the water near their boat, but the mother whale was trying to get the calf to move away from the dinghy.

"The calf, being a silly pup, when he popped his head out and saw the boat, I think that excited his interest and he started to come towards us. But his mother didn't like that too much, so she got him away, but we managed to capture all the photos," Fewing told News.com.au.

Australia laws require boat owners to stay 300 metres away from whales, unless it is the mammal which swims toward the vessel, as in this case.

Based on Fewing's photos, Great Barrier Reef Marina Park Authority species expert Dr Mark Read estimated the calf that played around the Fewings' boat was about three weeks old.

Read could not confirm if the particular calf belongs to the famous Migaloo white whale species. He said a DNA test would be needed to confirm that information.

Read estimated that only 10 to 15 per cent of the more than 12,000 whales that migrate through Whitsundays annually are predominantly white. He explained the white color of the sighted calf and mother to the whales' lack of melanin, which is a genetic trait.

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