Swimming with Whale Sharks

Thursday 18^th August

The tour bus picked us up at 7.30 and took us down to where our boat was moored in the Lagoon inside Ningaloo Reef.   Once on the boat we motored out to a snorkelling spot. 

The first thing we saw when we got in the water was a stingray half buried in the sand. 

We free snorkelled for about half an hour looking at all the beautiful coral and the hundreds of different fish that inhabit the coral reef.

Christel was the first to spot a beautiful little Nudibranch.  These are beautifully coloured little sea slugs slightly bigger than the ordinary garden slug. 

There are about 50 different kinds, all extremely brightly coloured, and they live in amongst the coral.  The Tour guides became extremely excited and the video camera lady was quickly on the spot to record the find.

Later we found several others, all different colours and all quickly videoed.  We also found another stingray hiding under some coral.  After about half an hour we climbed back on the boat and motored out through a channel in the reef to go looking for Whale Sharks.

The spotter plane was several miles south, in fact we found out later it was off Turquoise Bay where we were snorkelling yesterday.  As we travelled towards the spotter plane we saw several lots of whale spouts, but none close enough to warrant going to investigate.

Soon we got the call that a Whale Shark had been spotted and we headed to where the plane was circling. 

Meanwhile we all got kitted up with our wet suits, flippers, masks and snorkels, and the first group of ten people sat on the marlin board at the back of the boat ready to jump into the water as soon as the boat had manoeuvred into position about 50 meters ahead of the Whale Shark.

Once the boat was in position the skipper yelled “Go Go Go” and we all jumped into the water. 

Suddenly, there coming right at you and filling up the whole of your face mask was this huge fish. 



Absolutely heart stopping stuff.  We quickly swam to one side out of its path, and then proceeded to swim alongside it.

We had strict instructions not to swim anywhere in the area in front of the sharks eyes, and to stay at least 3 meters away from its head and body area, and at least 4 meters away from its tail area.  This shark was quietly swimming along with a very casual wave of its tail.  It seemed hardly enough to make this huge thing move through the water, but we had to swim fairly fast to keep up with him.  He took absolutely no notice of us and just continued quietly swimming along.

Words can’t express the feelings of being in the open sea swimming beside one of the world’s largest fish.  Even at three meters distance, because of the magnifying effect of the water, it felt like you could reach out and touch him.

After about 5 minutes our tour guide called us to stop and we gathered together in a group to wait for the boat to pick us up.  Meanwhile the boat had gone ahead and dropped off the second group of ten, and then it came back and picked us up.  We leapfrogged ahead and jumped in for a second swim with the shark.

At the end of the second swim, the shark apparently got tired of all the attention, and quietly started slipping deeper and deeper into the water until he disappeared.  Meanwhile the spotter plane had found another shark so we were off to find it.

Again the whole process was repeated.  This shark was swimming much slower; in fact he didn’t even appear to be using his tail, so we were able to keep up with him without much effort on our behalves.  This guy was swimming right on the surface and if you put your head above water you could see its dorsal fin cutting through the waves. As we swum beside him we could see him feeding, opening and shutting his huge mouth as he scooped in plankton, then his gills would flare open as he filtered out the plankton before it passed into his stomach. Absolutely magical stuff.

By the end of the day we had had about 10 swims with 5 different sharks. Each shark we swam with was accompanied by several small fish that continually patrolled under its stomach.  There were at least two or three different varieties of fish accompanying each shark, and some of them actually looked like small ordinary sharks.  On one of the sharks I also saw several small fish clinging to its massive tail, getting a free ride as it swished gently through the water.

Like the first shark, the last one we swam with eventually got tired of all the attention, and he too quietly started to slide deeper and deeper, until he finally disappeared into the depths.  Whale Sharks live to about 100 years old and can grow to about 12 meters in length.  The ones we swam with varied between 3½ and 5½ meters in length, less than half grown, but who cares, we had swum with them. 

Because we had been lucky enough to spot so many sharks, we were running a bit behind schedule, so we started a fairly fast run back to the mooring.  We soon spotted a Hump Back Whale calf showing off to his mother by repeatedly jumping out of the water and rolling over on his back before thumping back down again.  We slowed down and cruised alongside this show off for about half an hour.  During that time he was continually leaping out of the water. 

The whole time his mother and another ‘escort’ whale kept alongside him, coming up to breathe and throwing huge geyser like spouts into the air before sounding again, each time showing off their huge grey backs and sometimes their tails.  

Occasionally they would also roll onto their sides and wave their huge flippers into the air before slapping them down onto the water causing a huge splash.  Who said these guys don’t play.

Their course eventually bought them across the bow of our boat, and junior continued his show on the other side, with mum and escort staying close alongside.  At one stage junior came within about 30 meters of the boat. Mother, who had been on the far side of him, must have decided he was getting too close to us, and she quickly swapped sides so that she was between the boat and her offspring, and then gently steered junior away from us.  A remarkable display of nature at work.

Reluctantly we left this young skite to his leaping and splashing, and continued on our way. All around us we could see whale spouts and their huge backs coming out of the water as they sounded.  Suddenly the call went out, Turtle.
 

Sure enough dead ahead in the water was a turtle quietly swimming along. It obviously became aware of the boat approaching and quickly dived out of sight.  This happened about four times during our trip back to the mooring.

We finally arrived back at the mooring and were soon on our bus back to our motor camp.  What a fantastic day, made even better by the great crew and tour guides.  The Video of our day will be available to buy in a couple of day’s time.  We have decided we must have one.  Can’t wait to see it.

So, when you get to Exmouth make sure you book your Whale Watching Tour with Ningaloo Blue Dive Whale Shark Eco Tours.  We can guarantee you will have a great experience. And if you get here within the next two months we can give you a 20% discount voucher!!  Check them out on Google.