Swimming with Whale Sharks

The day had finally arrived and I must say I had a lot of excitement about finally being able to swim with Whale sharks.  This was definitely something I had been looking forward to on our trip and was greatful to everyone who had given me birthday money to make this happen.  The conditions today were absolutely perfect with hardly any wind and not a cloud in the sky.  Snorkel gear…. check, underwater camera…. check, wetsuit….check.  Our friend Ian who joined me on this trip got a good laugh when I put on the wetsuit (he leant me) back to front!

Our first step was filling in one of those indemnity forms.  You know the one which basically gets you to sign your life away on every possible scenario that could kill or hurt you.  The next step was having an instant coffee so we could feel normal again after our early 7:30 start! Then, before we knew it we were on the mini bus on our way to the harbour to board our boat. 

On our first stop we had a bit of a trial run with making sure our snorkel gear was working okay by snorkelling over the top of the Ningaloo Reef.  I had quite a bit of trouble with my mask as water kept coming in as it wasn’t sealing properly. Luckily the boat was carrying heaps of spare gear and I was finally able to find a mask that sealed reasonably well.



Adjusting the snorkel.

School of blue fish.

Some of the coral.



Pretty amazing under water.

Although the coral at Ningaloo Reef isn’t as colourful as what I remember snorkelling on the Great Barrier Reef to be (this is due to the fact it is “hard” coral), the fish life was still certainly spectacular.  On this particular snorkel I managed to see Trumpet Fish, Parrot Fish, Angel Fish, reef shark, stingray and many other large schools of colourful fish. 

 

Some of the colour in the coral.

So many different kinds of fish.

 

Trumpet Fish

 



Amazing scenery everywhere you look.

 

Large school of fish.

 

Another large school of fish.

 

Such an abundance of sea life.

 

So hard to know where to look. 

Throughout the day the skipper would quite often pull up if he spotted something in the water.  On these occasions we managed to see a pod of dolphins, a large Loggerhead Turtle, a baitfish feeding frenzy with Yellowfin Tuna flying out of the water, Leapard Shark and a 4.5m Tiger Shark.

Yellowfin Tuna jumping through bait fish.

Leopard Shark

 

4.5 metre Tiger Shark

 

Our second snorkel was 50 metres back behind the surf break (which is a few kilometres from the beach).  Apparently the crew had told us that we were lucky to be doing this snorkel today as you need absolute perfect conditions to snorkel in this area.   Because we were in deeper water we were able to see more of the pelagic fish as well as a Loggerhead Turtle sitting on the bottom of the ocean floor.  The water was so clear you could see all the way to the bottom which was amazing.

After this snorkel, we continued up the coastline for a long time and I was starting to wonder if they were ever going to spot a Whale Shark for us to swim with.  Our bus driver who had dropped us off in the morning was also a pilot and was up in the sky trying to spot one for us.  Given that there were Tiger Sharks in the water I was curious as to how they could tell a Tiger Shark from a Whale Shark from that high in the sky. This was an important question as I wasn’t that keen to be the first to slide into the water only to find out that I was now in the open ocean with a man eater!  Luckily we had a Marine Biologist (who was also the underwater photographer) on board, and she was more than happy to be the first one in the water to identify what it was.  She had informed me that the Tiger Sharks that live around Ningaloo Reef are very well fed and the chance of one attacking you is very low, but I personally would still not take such a risk. 

Just as we were about to sit down to our buffet lunch we had got word that the pilot had just spotted the first Whale Shark for the day. Because Whale Sharks can dive deeply at any given moment, we had to promptly get into our snorkel gear and put our half eaten lunches aside.  The running joke on the boat was that sitting down to lunch would guarantee a Whale Shark sighting!

After a run down on how you had to keep a 3 metre distance from the Whale Shark we got split into two groups where we would enter water at different times so as to not have too many people in the water at once.  Ian and I were in the second group which I was quite happy about as it enabled us to see how it is all done. 

When the siren of the boat went off, our group all slid into the water and we followed one of the crew as he knew exactly where the Whale Shark was and how we had to position ourselves.  On my first swim I was still encountering a few issues with my mask, not to mention that I had cramped up in my legs from trying to swim really hard to keep up.  My friend Ian was also suffering a bit of a panic attack so between the both of us, I was wondering if either of us would be able to keep up.    When the crew member said to put our heads into the water as the Whale Shark was nearby, I suddenly had forgotten about all the issues I had just encountered.    

The Whale Shark would have to be possibly the most majestic animal you could ever see in the ocean.  It just seems to glide through the water with such little movement in its body and tail.  To say I was in total awe of this creature was an understatement. It was almost surreal.  Swimming directly underneath the Whale Shark were also some companion fish that apparently eat all of the parasites off the outside of the Whale Shark to keep it clean. 

 

Such an awesome experience.

So hard to believe how big it was.

Such a majestic animal.

A lot of the time I was looking at the tail as it was hard to keep up!

I saw this view quite a bit too.

On one of my swims, the crew had told our group that we would have to move fast as the Whale Shark was coming straight towards us.  Sure enough, when I put my head underwater all I could see was this giant mouth coming straight towards me.  In between trying to take photos I was frantically trying to get out of the road of this 7 metre, 2 tonne animal.

 

The moment where I thought it was going to run over me!

Trying to capture photos of its mouth before promptly getting out of its way.

You can see the companion fish under its body.

I don’t know whether it was the diesel fumes, over exhaustion, the fact I had just eaten lunch or the rocking of the boat, but between all of my swims I was sick twice off the side of the boat.  It was a little embarrassing as I was the only person who was sick for the whole day, but as I said to Ian, you know you have had a great day when you are sick and are still really enjoying yourself!