0nly 0.01% of People Have Done This Amazing Thing

 RAC Exmouth Caravan Park, Exmouth

Today was whaleshark tour day. I met the bus around 8am, which took us to the boat ramp. The staff managed our expectations by warning us on the way that its the end of the season and there are not so many whale sharks around at present.

Anyway there were only 10 of us swimmers on the boat instead of the normal 20, so we had plenty of space for moving around. We drove to a reef about 30 minutes out and did some snorkelling.

Me snorkelling

Interestingly, the coral does not have the beautiful colours of the coral in the Great Barrier Reef, but tends to be a fairly dull brown. However the fish were amazing, and perhaps stand out even more given the coral is less striking. One of my favourites was a school of small bright blue, almost florescent, fish. Another was a very huge manta ray that I saw. There were also yellow and black angel fish, long thin silvery fish, and so many more....

After the snorkelling - which was partly just to ensure all our equipment was working - we cruised for an hour or so 'out to the back'. We got the good news that a whale shark had been spotted by the plane. Other boats with swimmers were also with this shark so the plan was to ‘share’. The way they do it is that the boats sort of all circle the shark, which just keeps swimming along, and various groups jump in and swim along side for around 5-10 minutes each. Every now and again the shark would dive deep, with the worry that it might not come back to the surface. 

I couldnt believe it when we were actually in the water and I looked down and the whaleshark was right there. It was absolutely stunning. We had to stay at least 2m from it, but sometimes it was tricky to get out of the way quickly enough! A couple of times it was coming right towards me and I was back pedaling fast. It was about 6.5 to 7m long (a picture below, not from today, but just to show what they look like).

Ready to launch!

Amazingly, we did not one, not two, but three swims! My final swim was the best. It felt like it was just me and the shark (no idea where everyone else was, I think on the other side). I swam along side the shark for ages just looking in his little eye. There were little tiny fish right in front that the shark was eating, and then sucker fish underneath that were cleaning it as it went along. It was truly one of the best marine experiences, indeed life experiences, that I have ever had. 

This is the whale shark from another angle, taken by the photographer

This is not me, but I like the angle of this picture

Only .01% of the population have swum with whale sharks (as per my title), with Exmouth having one of the best aggregations of these sharks in the world because of the coral spawning and warm water. Most of the ones here are young males.

Very little is known about how the whalesharks, but it seems they reproduce by producing hundreds of embryos all from one sperm, which then slowly develop over different time spans, until they give birth at different times, when each is ready. Just behind their pectoral fin, they have a unique identification, just like a finger print.

We also saw turtles and hump back whales. But the whale shark stole the show today!

Warming up in the sun

Swimming finished and a prosecco to celebrate