Whale rescue off Royal National Park. Picture supplied

Members of the shack community in the Royal National Park and NPWS officers have combined to rescue a distressed whale that became entangled in a rope.

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Helen Voysey, a retired GP and lifetime member of the community - her father built the family's shack in 1936 - provided this account:

In the Royal National Park at Era Beach, the heritage-listed cabins, which locals call shacks, look out over the sea.

The whale's tale was entangled in rope. Picture supplied

On Tuesday June 16, Paul Boufler, a shack holder from Era Point noticed a whale to the north off the point known as Thelma Point.

It seemed to be moving around, but not going anywhere.

When he noticed the whale still there the next day, Wednesday, he thought something was amiss.

He talked to his friend Graham Holloway whose shack is on the other side of the beach. Both are longstanding members of the Era Surf Life Saving Club.

They decided they should go and investigate.

The whale which was rescued off Royal National Park. Picture supplied

They got the Inflatable Rescue Boat (IRB) from the surf club and motored out towards the whale.

As they approached, the whale lifted its tail into the air, showing that it had a rope wrapped around its tail.

"It seemed like the whale just wanted to show us what was wrong", said Graham. "The rope seemed to be tethered to the sea floor, probably some kind of anchor rope stuck on the reef off Thelma Point."

Graham used his mobile to call 000. A chain of people were alerted, police, Surf Com (Surf Life Saving Communications Team). Graham was fielding many calls.

Then Graham and Paul saw three NPWS rangers nearby on Little Garie Point. They motored the IRB over, and told them what was happening.

One ranger, Jason, asked if they could take him out to the whale, so they got Jason into the IRB from Little Garie Point and took him out.

They all observed the whale and Jason also noticed the rope wrapped on its tail.

The whale's tale was entangled in rope. Picture supplied

Jason made calls to get the NPWS IRB with equipment to free the whale. He was returned to Little Garie Point and asked Graham and Paul to stay in position with the whale until the NPWS arrived. This took three hours until the NPWS returned.

By this time the whale seemed to be in distress.

NPWS crew observed the whale and assessed the situation. They asked Graham and Paul to assist by holding the rope while they cautiously approached the whale with the equipment to cut the rope, which they did.

Freed, the whale then swam away, and lifted and flapped its tail showing the rope had gone.

Graham and Paul then tried to pull as much of the rope as possible out of the water to reduce further risk and cut a length of the rope which they gave to NPWS.

There are a large number of whales migrating north at this time. They often come in close to the points in the Royal National Park, at Thelma Point and Semi-detached Point.

The two teams, NPWS and Era Surf Club shackies were jubilant. They congratulated each other and handshakes were exchanged all round.

As Graham and Paul pulled the IRB out of the surf at Era Beach, they noticed the whale had followed them.

It was just out past the break, and seemed to watch them get out of the IRB. "We were concerned it was going to beach itself, but maybe it was just coming to thank us," Graham said.

It suddenly turned, circled around Era and North Era beaches for a while, then disappeared at dusk out to sea.