Coral Bay - Exmouth (whale sharks!)

We've now snorkelled with whale sharks, the biggest fish in the world!!! What an amazing experience...


We're here in Exmouth at the northern end of the Ningaloo Reef, where whale sharks pass through on their migration between April and July. They're filter feeders, and they like coming here to feast on the mass coral spawning that occurs about April each year. These fish are massive and gorgeous with loads of spots and stripes. We've been looking forward to seeing them -- let alone swimming with them -- for over two years now.

We were in a group of 15 passengers and five crew on an all-day tour of Ningaloo Reef. First up, we had a lovely snorkel session to get used to our snorkel gear and wetsuits (very flattering -- NOT!!! [...says you - I thought we looked pretty fly - Ed]). There were such beautiful fish and corals as well as two big, gorgeous sting rays. But of course we were all anxious to get to the whale sharks!


We then relied on a spotter plane (shared by at least three other boats) to locate a whale shark for us to see. When one was found, we zipped over to it, joining three other boats. The whale sharks are unpredictable; they can dive deep at any time or just swim quickly away. We didn't actually get to see that first whale shark; he dove deep before the other boats' passengers finished swimming with him. But soon enough we found another whale shark.


We passengers were split into two groups because a maximum of ten people can swim with any whale shark at a time. (It's great to see these rules in place to protect the whale sharks.) Luckily Iff and I were in the first group to go in. As soon as the shark was spotted, our group assembled on the back of the boat with snorkel gear on and ready to go. As soon as the boat was near enough to the whale shark, we were told to jump in quickly; there's no time to waste when the shark might disappear at any second, and there's another group (and possibly other groups on other boats) waiting to jump in next. So in we jumped with a distinct lack of grace but a whole heap of excitement.


We'd been given strict instructions about spacing out around both sides of the whale shark and how to stay far away enough from the shark so as not to stress him. So the first few seconds were taken up by positioning ourselves. As soon as I could dunk my face in the water, I was a bit confused to see a mass of bubbles from my and the other swimmers' efforts to get into place; I couldn't see any whale shark even though our team leader was pointing dramatically in one direction. Then I looked the right way and the bubbles cleared, and my jaw mentally dropped onto the ocean floor. This absolutely massive, gorgeous whale shark was looming just a few metres away from me. I was so stunned by the beauty of all his spots, I forgot to swim. I just floated there, gobsmacked and thrilled to bits. I'd expected to be scared, being so close to a big fat shark. But each whale shark we saw was completely unconcerned about us; he was just swimming gently along with mouth opened to filter through any small fish/plankton in the water. These things are so powerful, they barely move their huge tails to propel their massive bodies through the water. Course, if they want to speed up, their tails move quite a bit!


With that first whale shark, I was too busy being amazed by his size and spots to notice the many other things about him: his stripes and other markings, his fins, all the fish on/around him, any movements of his head, etc. I quickly remembered I needed to swim along with him, or I'd lose my good view of him. And then after what seemed like a lifetime but was probably only a minute or so, we were told to stop swimming so our other group could get to the whale shark. We got back onto the boat with huge smiles on our faces.


That experience alone would have been thrilling enough. But there was more! We swam with a whale shark three more times; I believe they were four different sharks, but I'm no expert. All I know is that every time was so thrilling and amazing. The last shark we saw actually circled our boat a fair bit; before our group jumped into the water to swim with him (the other group went first), we could see him clearly from the boat, and he looked so huge. I should note that the whale sharks seen on these tours are usually juvenile males (they're so huge and they're not even fully grown yet!), which is why I refer to each one as a he!


It was so wonderful to be in the water with these glorious animals, I can't even think of strong enough words to express it all. Suffice to say, our expectations were so high after waiting so long to do this, and the whole experience far surpassed our expectations. Absolutely brilliant! And as if the whale sharks weren't enough, we saw at least a few humpback whales arching over the water and breaching as well as some big manta rays with their mouths open to filter food. It was a perfect day!!!


The rest of our time in Exmouth has been very relaxing (ie lazy!). We've wandered around the wee town a fair bit, checking out various types of cool cockatoos and several wild emus roaming around. We were in a park in town, where a big emu was looking for food, and we heard a little girl say, "You're not supposed to be in town, emu! You're a wild animal!" Cute!

This part of Australia -- Shark Bay and Ningaloo Reef -- is such a gem for life of all sorts. The marine animals are so amazing, but so are the stromatolites and all the birds and reptiles. It's thrilling to be here and such a worthwhile adventure. Tonight we get the bus to Broome, and we'll miss this corner of the world!