© David WadamsA launch tows the dead whale away from Tairua Beach.
David Wadams, who has had a holiday home in Tairua for the past 27 years, said he spotted the whale from the beach about 7:30am, when he went to see if conditions were suitable for fishing.
"I could see a large, dark object bobbing up and down in the waves about no more than five to seven hundred metres out," he said.
"I was going out fishing anyway so when I went out in my boat I went down to have a look and there it was."
Wadams said it was difficult to see what kind of whale it was because its head was below the water, but thought the 10-12 metre-long creature could have been a large pilot whale.
It had been dead for some time, he said.
"It was pretty ripe, the smell was distinctive from quite some distance," he said.
© David WadamsA large decaying whale was found about 500m from Tairua beach.
Wadams said it wouldn't have been long before the dead whale washed up on shore.
"There was quite a swell running, it would've washed up by the surf club on Tairua Beach," he said.
"The way the wind was blowing, it was heading straight to [the beach], in another hour, it would have washed up on the ocean beach."
However, another boatie was able to deal with the problem.
Wadams said while he was out there on his boat, he watched as someone jumped off a large launch to tie a rope around the dead whale's tail.
They then towed the whale away from the beach.
"Last I saw they were heading out to sea, disappearing over the horizon out to deep water presumably to cast it adrift out there so that it wouldn't come back on to shore."
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