Having a Whale (Shark) Of A Time!!

Having a Whale (Shark) Of A Time!!
Exmouth, Australia

Exmouth, Australia

As an add on to our Western Australia Holiday, we decided that we could not possibly be here at exactly the right time of year and not visit Exmouth to swim with whale sharks. There are few places in the world that you can swim with whale sharks, aside from Mexico, the Maldives and the Philippines (where practices of feeding the whale sharks goes against my desire to swim with them), little Ningaloo Reef near Exmouth is one place that they visit every year.

Exmouth is a tiny tiny town, it has a population of just over 2,000 which swells to 6,000 at the height of the tourist season. When we were booking our short 3 day stay in Exmouth I was surprised at just how busy all the hotels, motels and campsites seemed to be. It was school holidays which didn’t help, but it also just happened to be Anzac weekend so seemingly every family in Australia was on the move looking for a weekend break. Thankfully we managed to book our accommodation and whale shark tour so had nothing to worry about.

Whilst the whale shark tour was our main reason to visit Exmouth we built in one extra day just in case our tour was cancelled for any reason or if there were no whales we could hopefully go out the following day.

This 3 day trip had cost us a small fortune, internal flights in Australia are more expensive than most international flights, motel rooms are near on £100 a night and to swim with the whale sharks was nearly £200 each, so we had a huge amount invested in this one little tour which if mother nature was not being kind could be an almighty failure.

We went and checked in with the whale shark company that we had picked, 3 Islands Whale Shark, who were the absolute front runners with hundreds of positive reviews on Trip Advisor. The staff were all amazing and told us that there had been whale sharks every day since the season began on the 30 March. We were so excited we were literally bouncing off the walls, I quite literally had that feeling that you get on Christmas eve when you are 5 and you know that the next day is going to be amazing.

We set about exploring Exmouth which took all of 20 minutes, it is so tiny it is unreal, just one high street with about 12 shops, 10 dive shops and 2 supermarkets, thankfully it also had a chippy for a quick and easy cheap dinner.

Feeling reassured that our tour would go ahead the next day and with the help of a spotter plane we would almost definitely swim with whale sharks we needed to make a plan for our free day. There are a couple of tours, but in true Aussie fashion they are expensive so we set about hiring a car so we could explore the Cape Range National Park and hop onto a boat trip down Yardie Creek. This plan was slightly harder to make than we anticipated as because of half term and Anzac weekend there was a distinct lack of hire cars in Exmouth. Thankfully we managed to secure our standard little run around so we could sit back and relax, I say relax, we sat around getting more and more excited about what the following day was going to hold.

The next morning we were set, we had sun screen, waterproof cameras and fingers firmly crossed that this day was going to live up to our expectations. We were picked up from our little motel and the girls on the bus were amazing, they were upbeat and enthusiastic and did nothing to calm my excitement. The pier where we set off was far busier than I had ever anticipated and I began to get a bit concerned as there must have been at least 8 boats each loading up 20 swimmers, that is a lot of people if there are not many whale sharks.

After a short tender ride we were on our boat for the tour and the staff were equally excited and fabulous, we had two swim guides, a photographer, the captain and the general dogs body who was in charge of the tender boat.

We started the tour with all the usual chit chat about safety, sea sickness and snorkelling. We were kitted out with snorkels, masks and wetsuits or stinger suits if we wanted them and the first stop of the day was a snorkel stop on Ningaloo Reef, this was primarily for the swim guides to see how competent everyone was in the water, sadly the conditions on the reef were not great, there was quite a lot of swell, visibility was poor and as a result there was not a huge amount to see so we decided to head back to the boat.

Back on board the crew put on a rather magnificent demonstration using toy boats, swimmers and whale sharks to demonstrate what was going to happen when we were in the water with the whale shark. It all sounded so simple but obviously everything was going to depend on whether we found a whale shark and if we found one, how long he was going to stick around for. I can say ‘he’ with confidence as the whale sharks that visit Ningaloo Reef have been studied and they tend to all be teenage boys, there is masses of research ongoing but it is the rich plankton and food sources which brings these boys here each year between April and July.

As we were making our way out to the open ocean beyond the fringing reef there was a flurry of excitement from the crew, the spotter plane had found us a whale shark and we were headed straight to it. We were split up into 2 groups of 10 and it was unreal how quickly everything happened. Before we knew it we had our snorkels, masks and fins on and we were sat on the back of the boat about to get in the water to see the biggest fish in the sea.

So here are some factoids that you need to know about whale sharks:

The whale shark is a slow-moving filter feeding shark, as I already mentioned it is the largest fish in the word.

The largest confirmed individual is 12.65 meters or 41.5 feet, weighing 21.5 ton or 47,000 lb, but sightings have been reported at over 14 meters with a weight of 30 ton.

Whale sharks feed on plankton and eggs during fish and coral spawning and are therefore completely harmless to humans.

The whale sharks mouth can be 1.5 meters wide, they have around 300 rows of tiny teeth and 10 filter pads. They filter the water as they swim with their mouth open catching the tiny food particles as they filter massive volumes of water.

Whale sharks reach sexual maturity at around 30 years old and live to around 70 or 100 years.

So there you go a few factoids for you. So where were we, oh yes, sat on the back of the boat about to jump into the water with a fish that could weigh up to 30 tons!

We jumped into the ocean, followed our swim guide and formed an orderly line as we were told. We were basically told that we had to put our faces in the water when our swimmer signalled and the whale shark would swim past us and once its pectoral fin was past us we could swim alongside it. It all sounded so simple in practice but in reality as soon as I got a glimpse of the most magnificent thing I have ever seen in the world I froze. Everyone else took off kicking me in the face and leaving me in a trail of bubbles but I kicked my fins with every ounce of energy I had and had the most amazing experience of my life as I swam behind the whale shark watching its tail just move effortlessly from side to side as I kicked like my life depended on it to keep up. It was beyond graceful, it was pretty much like being in a dream just floating, well it would have been if my heart wasn’t beating out of my chest having had the best workout in months. After what seemed like an eternity our swimmer told us all to stop so the boat could come back around to pick us up. I assumed that that was our tour done and I had had the time of my life, every second with that big spotty fish was sensational and I was exhausted. As we all stopped I looked around for Tim and couldn’t see him anywhere, panic came over me for a second as every possibility as to where we was flashed through my mind. Thankfully moments later I saw him waving and smiling from the comfort of the tender boat that had been following us in case any of us needed a lift. Tim had kindly stopped to see if I was ok and in the time it took him to
look above the water we all swam past in pursuit of our big spotty fish and he couldn’t get enough speed to catch us, he may have missed a few minutes with the whale shark but at least he got value for money with a rescue boat ride.

Back on the main boat we took off our snorkels and masks and grabbed a glass of water and seconds later our swimmer is telling us to get ready we are going in again. I couldn’t believe it, I was sat on the edge of that boat with my fins, snorkel and mask ready and this time I knew what I was doing.

I could not believe our luck when moments after being back in the water we were told to put our heads in and the same whale shark appeared out of the blue, this time I was ready, I took off leaving a trail of bubbles and got myself a perfect spot along the left hand side of the whale shark. This was even more sensational the second time. For a moment the whale shark dived down a little and I thought that was the end of our swim but he came right back to where he was and carried on ambling along. I say ambling along, he was effortlessly swishing his tail and filter feeding as he went sucking in the finest plankton Ningaloo Reef had to offer, I on the other hand was once again kicking and splashing and willing my legs not to cramp up on me now. Once again this amazing fish let us swim with it until we couldn’t keep up anymore. The swim guides pulled us up and once again we were rounded up waiting for the boat. Once again Tim had taken advantage of the tender and had caught a ride as the endurance of swimming with these sharks was really something.

Back on the boat and gushing with joy and excitement, I was just about to take off my rash vest when they shouted for us to get ready again. By this time we were all exhausted, we had been swimming with the whale shark for a good 30 minutes and we very nearly said that we couldn’t do it, but the guides were great, they told us to at least get in and see the swim by and if we were tired we could get picked up by Tim’s tender (lol). So once more we were perched on the edge of the boat, in the water and waiting for our big spotty fish to pass by. However this time it seemed bigger and slower than before. It was. We had joined a different whale shark this time. Our first beautiful beast had probably been about 7 meters long, this one was at least 9 and it was stunning. It was just gliding so slowly through the water, we could keep up without too much effort, I was right alongside it for the entire swim which just felt like a dream, a dream I never wanted to end. Sadly the rules say that you can only stay with a whale shark for an hour and we had well and truly had our time. We didn’t even see the other group of 10 from our boat and didn’t have to share our whales with any other boats which is a risk when there are not enough in the area. We felt like the only people in the ocean with these amazing creatures who were just so gentle and relaxed they seemingly didn’t even know of care that we were in the water with them.

Climbing back onto the boat that final time was emotional; we had just had the most amazing experience we could have ever hoped for. Mother Nature had been kind beyond measure and whilst this had been expensive it had been worth every single dollar that we paid.

Exhausted and exhilarated we had a delicious buffet lunch and returned to the Ningaloo Reef for one last snorkel before heading back to Exmouth. The snorkelling was ok, thankfully the sea had calmed down and the visibility had improved, but looking at a few rays when you have just been swimming with a whale shark just can’t compare.

Back on the boat we began a slow amble back to shore and whilst we were chatting with the captain he told us that they had not seen any Dugongs yet this season and today could be our lucky day. Seconds later he received a radio call from one of the other boats saying there were a couple of dugong passing by, the captain laughed and said he was lying, but he wasn’t, the next minute we are turning the boat around just in time to get a glimpse of an adult and a baby dugong passing by and heading to the very spot we had been snorkelling just 10 minutes before.

What a perfect end to the perfect day, in all we probably swam with the 2 whale shark for at least 45 minutes, we had no idea how lucky we were as some tours the whale sharks pass by and they are gone. You can get just a 20 second glimpse or if you are as lucky as us you can get such long swims that you are contemplating not getting in again. It still brings a tear to my eye now thinking back to just what an experience it was. Any lucky streak that was missing in Broome was definitely back and right when we needed it, Mother Nature you rock!

What a day it had been and after another dinner from the local chippy we were asleep before we knew it grinning from ear to ear and dreaming of big spotty fish.

The next day was always going to be a let down in comparison but actually we had a rather great day, we picked up our hire car and for the first time ever we got a free upgrade to a brand new SUV, a vast improvement on the Nissan Micra that we were expecting.

Our journey for the day was to head around the coast to Yardie Creek, Exmouth is known as one of the few places with a Range and a Reef and having explored the reef it was time to explore the Cape Range National Park. There is a road through the national park which takes you to Yardie Creek and along the way there are a multitude of bush camps, beaches and snorkel spots, but we had a long way to go and limited time so save for a few stops to take in the view and check out the beaches we headed straight to Yardie Creek to catch a boat tour up the creek.

Yardie Creek is basically at the end of the road 90 minutes from Exmouth, until 2013 the creek was separated from the ocean by a sand bar and it was possible to drive further down the coast past Yardie Creek. In 2013 there were some massive rains in the area and the sand bar washed away opening the creek and connecting it to the sea. Which is great as they can now run boat tours up the creek which saves us a rather long and hot hike. The creek is home to some pretty awesome wildlife particularly it is the home to some massive Osprey and is also the home to the rock wallaby. We had no idea what a rock wallaby was and without our awesome guide Ash, who was the most sarcastic but brilliantly entertaining guide we met in Oz, we would never have spotted them as they are pretty much invisible against the walls of the creek.

The rock wallaby are funny little grey marsupials with black markings to make them blend into the rocks, they have a very strange habit of sitting on their tail which is very unusual. They are hunted by eagles in the creek so they have adapted and just keep incredibly still to avoid being seen.

This was not the best boat trip ever and our zoom on our cameras was letting us down from getting any great wildlife shots from the boat, but it was definitely worth the trip to see the adorable rock wallabies.

The journey back to Exmouth was much more relaxed, we stopped at the aptly named Turquoise Bay for a dip in the ocean to cool off, we stopped by the visitor center for an ice cream and got some useful advice from the local ranger as to where there were some kangaroos chilling out in the afternoon shade. As we were coming back round to Exmouth we headed up to the Exmouth Lighthouse to take in the panoramic views. From the lighthouse we could see the old US military base which served as a base for submariners during the second world war. Now partly used as a motel, this US Naval base was once like a little slice of the USA in Australia. They drove on the right hand side of the road within the base, they had a bowling alley and the currency of choice was the US dollar.

Not far from the old military base is the Naval Communication Station Harold E. Holt, a communications station built to provide support to the U.S. Navy personn
el. The masts transmit a Very Low Frequency (VLF) radio transmission and it is the most powerful transmission station in the Southern Hemisphere. The central tower known as Tower Zero is 387 m (1,270 ft) tall and is apparently the tallest man mad structure in the southern hemisphere.

I think that it is safe to say that Exmouth is done, if we had known and had had more time we would have taken an extra day trip down to Coral Bay, another location for the whale sharks but also a destination where manta rays hang out year round. As we say it is always good to save something to go back to and Western Australia has definitely reminded us just how much we loved our journey down the East Coast in La Toya, we would love to see more of Western Australia and of course the Northern Territories, so we still can’t call Australia done, but for now it is time to move on.

What a great time we have had, Exmouth you have most definitely not disappointed, we will never forget our very first big spotty fish.

Next up our return to Malaysia and our return to Pom Pom to see our turtles!