On the 4/6 I woke excitedly (although a touch late) for my big day exploring the amazing Ningaloo Reef by boat. I had booked a tour to utilise the experience and knowledge of locals who know the reef like their own back-yard.
After a quick bite at the bakery I hurried over to the dive shop to be on the bus by 6.30am.
After a short ride over to the boat ramp a glass-bottomed boat taxied us out to our big, beautiful boat. First stop was a simple snorkel within the reef to allow the inexperienced to experience and the crew to judge our capabilities. The reef was full of colour and as I was first in I locked eyes with a nice white-tip reef-shark straight up. Great start to the day. We saw some monster sting-rays and fish of every colour. There was even a shy turtle lurking about around us.
We climbed back to safety for some food and I climbed up to sit with the skipper as we ventured further south down the reef. From up high on the tuna-tower I watched in amazement as a mother Dugong played with her pup, cruising the waves with surprising speed. We had dolphins swimming in our wake and spotted a few unidentified shadows resembling larger, hungry sharks.
Finally we received confirmation from our spotter-plane that a young female whale-shark had been spotted beyond the breaking reef. This was the call we were waiting for. So we turned tail to crash our way clumsily through the white-wash and out into the deep-blue on the other side.
After finding the shark there was no time wasted in positioning the boat to allow us to jump in and swim along side her. And what an experience! As you can see from the photographs (which were sent to my email from a fellow swimmer with an under-water camera) the whale-shark was just incredible. Only a small shark of 4-5m's, she was graceful in cruising the ocean, seemingly without a worry in the world. Whale-sharks are the largest fish in the ocean (all other whales being mammals) and can grow to some 18m's. But even this small specimen had us gawking in awe. We were joined by schools of barracuda over a metre long and even though we were swimming out in the open far from land, I felt safe and alive. She seemed to enjoy the attention and stayed with us for over an hour before plunging to the depths of the ocean and out of site.
We were all very cold back on the boat after the excitement and a lunch was served over the rising volume of chatter. We sat with our towels around us in amazement as a pod of hump-back whales swam with the boat, breaching in spectacular form in front of the stunning Cape Range.
After a close look at a BIG tiger-shark and an anxious swim (not far enough away) it was time to call it a day. Being in the sun all day, in and out of the water with energy levels high had drained me and I was glad to set foot on terra-firma at last.
After a few beers at the pub with two lovely girls Renee and Shannon (who had also been on the boat), I was ready for bed in preparation for an early start at work the following day. The day had been absolute magic, and I will remember it forever.
Our beautiful female Whale-Shark
Showing off
... As she disappeared into the deep...
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