Australian surfers normally take to the sea to search for the best waves.
But a group of surf tourists had an unexpected discovery when they came across a boat load of stranded asylum seekers, apparently trying to reach Indonesia's Christmas Island.
The surfers were confronted with what they claimed they thought was a "feral surf boat."
Surfers came across the boat of Sri Lankan refugees
The tourists' chef Tim Everingham told Surfing Life they initially did not register the 48 Sri Lankan asylum seekers.
"It didn't really sink in until we saw the signs they were holding up, saying, 'Please help, we are Sri Lankan refugees'."
According to WAtoday, the asylum seekers had said they were from India.
"We all just feel sorry for them, mate, it's a very heavy thing to see; there's women and children and elderly on there, all floating at sea for 10 days with no fuel."
But while the surfers gave them food and cigarettes, they didn't let the asylum seekers hop on board their boat to get back to Australia.
"We can't have them come aboard and demand we drive them to Australia, that's not a situation that can happen," Everingham said.
Earlier this month human rights groups criticised a plan to deport asylum seekers, who travel to Australia by boat, more than 1,000 miles away to Papua New Guinea.
The Asylum Seeker Resource Centre described a recommendation by a panel of experts, set up by the Australian government, to process refugees in Papua New Guinea and the South Pacific island of Nauru as "a comprehensive package of harm". Some politicians have also warned the policy would take Australia back to the "bad old days."