The day had finally arrived for our swim with the whale sharks. We arrived at the tour office at 730 and boarded a bus to take us to the wharf. Boarding the boat we met the crew who were fantasic the whole day – friendly, informative and very helpful.

Our first stop was a snorkel over the Ningaloo Reef – words  cannot do it justice – magnificent coral formations teeming with hundreds of different marine life – fish, rays, turtles, sharks, slugs, octopus, clams….and jelly fish.

 

On to our whale shark swim area out beyond the reef in the open ocean. A spotter plane radioed the boat when whale sharks were sighted and we sped over to the area. A group of 10 swimmers are dropped off the back of the boat with a guide and photographer to swim along with the sharks. The first drop was a bit like a feeding frenzy as swimmers anxious to catch a glimpse of the shark kicked each other in various parts of their anatomy! As I dropped in to the ocean the first time I turned and there was a massive whale shark coming straight towards me. They are beautiful and enourmous creatures….we swam along side it briefly until it dived deeper. The boat picked us up and the search continued. There were 20 swimmers on our boat and so each group of 10 took alternate turns in the water as sharks were sighted. We saw a playful baby whale shark who kept circling our group….the day was fantastic and we got great footage of these amazing sharks. Swimming with them was great exercise in the open ocean with the swell and also the fact that despite their size they move through the water quickly.

After a delicious lunch on board we cruised back for another snorkel on the reef…again amazing coral formations and animal life.

Trev got up close and personal with a Red Bell jellyfish…ouch!! Irikanji like jellies had also been sighted recently for the first time in Ningaloo and 17 people since the beginning of April had been hospitalized so everyone was a little wary.

We returned to the wharf at about 345 after a fantastic day. The photos of the day were available to purchase so we did….photos on today’s entry mostly courtesy of Coral Bay Ecotours.

The group on the whale shark swim were really friendly and we got to know them quite well over the course of the day.  Steve from Loftus of all places was one of Gordie’s favourite “old mates”….being a Sharks supporter 🐟

We returned home to find Branch had been working all day on the Ram….was it sorted?

And Rosie got her white linen washed 😉