We booked with Kings Ningaloo Reef Tours which was a blessing! We got picked up in the morning from the caravan park to be told we were the only tour boat going out today. We thought the weather was fine because the sun was out but apparently high winds were forecast and every other tour company cancelled their tours. gulp
We were reassured KingsReef had the best boat which could handle the wind, plus the best captain who made the call that he could still safely get us out there. Must admit, it was a little nerve-wracking to hear but we were SO relieved we could still do it! As soon as we got on our tender boat to get us to the main vessel we counted our lucky stars that we had taken some seasickness tablets beforehand as we were sure in for a rocky ride!
Lucky for us, being the only boat out meant we had the spotter seaplane all to ourselves and it didn’t take him long to inform the captain of where the whale sharks were.
A couple of important bits of information we were told while we were getting in our stinger suits was that:
- Whale sharks don’t eat humans. They only have throats the size of your fist and feed on small crustaceans such as krill (even though their actual mouths can be 1 metre wide!)
- They swim at the surface of the water to find their food but dive if they feel threatened. They can dive over 1000m in depth.
- We must not swim on top of or underneath the whale shark, and stay at-least 2m away from it at all times.
Yikes. Nerves were seriously kicking in!
We soon found ourselves standing on the marlin board at the back of the boat, all geared up with our snorkels about to jump in. A whale shark had been spotted and it was all systems go. We followed the guide into the water, battling with extremely large waves and watched out for her signals as to what direction the whale shark was and where to swim. Unfortunately, we saw no whale shark and were within minutes of being in the water told to swim back to the boat as the shark had taken a dive. Once they go down it is very unlikely to see them come back up again any time soon. Our hearts were pumping as getting back onto the boat was a challenge in itself when you are contending with huge waves and strong currents. But we couldn’t help feel disappointed that we didn’t get to see the whale shark. But another on was spotted not too far away and we were soon called back to the marlin board again.
With shaky legs, I grabbed Toms arm in the excitement of trying again. But unfortunately, we were told the shark had disappeared and taken a dive too. We didn’t even get in the water that time.
I started realising this wasn’t going to be a relaxing day. Almost a third of the passengers onboard were feeling really seasick or had already chucked up over the side and we were told there was a research boat nearby who were tagging the whale sharks which could be why they are feeling threatened and diving down.
But we got the signal again for another whale shark and we weren’t giving up.
Once we jumped in the water it took me seconds to work out where it was until the guide was telling us to look directly down and move out the way! There it was. The 1m wide mouth they had described to us heading straight towards me. Far out! I moved fast. And it swam directly past us all before unfortunately taking a dive too. A short but sweet sighting, we had actually seen a whale shark! We swam towards the boat with not only gigantic waves against us but this time jellyfish. Loads of jellyfish all around us. Fantastic. How I didn’t get stung was a miracle as they were literally everywhere. But Tom wasn’t so lucky and got a strike to the neck along with a few others who got stung on their hands and wrists.
The captain decided to take us to a different location, away from the research boat in the hope of having another chance to swim with the whale sharks. We still had the seaplane helping us from above which we could see at a distance. It didn’t feel too long before we got the signal again. We were told it was a smaller one, but hey we will take anything! We jumped in and this SIX METER male whale shark was more than happy for us to swim alongside him.
It was incredible. He didn’t look real. He had a shawl of fish underneath him and we were admiring him from aside looking at every inch of him feeling extremely small. It was better than we had imagined and I think the challenge of Mother Nature just made it more special. We felt incredibly lucky. We were so relaxed by this point we swam from one side of the shark to the other. He was a fairly slow swimmer so made it a little easier for us to keep up. Tom even managed to get the photographers attention for some epic snaps with the whale shark whilst I admired from a little further away staying well clear of his mouth this time!
It really was an experience we will never forget. An adventure that seriously got the heart pumping and by the end of our day, we were well and truly exhausted.
Gemma.