A trio of fishermen spent an unforgettable and intimate hour with a pair of humpback whales who frolicked around their boat.

Nathan Bajada, Chris Yu and Ben Sandman released the complete footage of an encounter they had with the “gentle giants” off the Gosford coast in August. Bajada told the Daily Telegraph they were 10 nautical miles (18km) from the Central Coast.

The pod of humpbacks was breaching around their boat for over an hour and even followed them as they moved away.

“The whales were in complete control of the situation at all times, they could have capsized us in an instant,” Sandman told the Daily Telegraph. Credit: Nathan Bajada via Storyful