Whale Sharks are amazing. The whole goal of my WA trip was to see whale sharks. I booked my trip that was linked to a 3-Day Live Aboard Diving trip and the Navy Pier dive and negotiated a great package deal with Whale Shark-n-Dive (WSD). I had also negotiated a discount deal (the YHA discount price) with Ningaloo Reef Dreaming (NRD) and thought it was good because they give you a free picture CD according to the advertising. Matthew paid for a trip with them at the price I negotiated and since he could not go...he said he booked the trip for me (SO SWEET). I was a bit stressed because NRD sent a voucher (and said I needed to have it) but it had the wrong date. I had to get them to reissue it and then could not find a place to print it. Ended up I did not need the voucher.
I found out, once I arrived in WA, that NRD's reputation is that they are "a bunch of cowboys" and do not do things in a professional manner. They have their own plane but the rumor is that sometimes they don't even put it up. I don't know if all the rumors are true but I was concerned about booking through them.
The day I went out with NRD...there was only one other company that braved the weather and sent a boat out. The good thing was that there was no concerns about another boat getting our shark...the bad thing was that it was rough and they ended up going in early (after we saw our shark and he dove) because of rough weather (high winds). Their normal boat had a hole in the hull (rumors are from hitting the reef - very bad for the reef and boat) so we used their spare boat (actually it was their old boat that they had sold but were now renting it back until their new boat was fixed). The waves crashed over the sides as we were going out to look for sharks. Anything that was not in a tub with a lid (which they provided) was soaked.
The crew was fun and worked hard. They were very blunt about the international regulations to protect the sharks which was a good thing. They did push very hard with respect to swimming fast and the speed of entry in/exit out of the water. Getting in and out of the boat was really hard. I saw more people with bloody scratches and cuts and if someone was not bleeding, they were bruised. We were on the hunt for sharks...but not the kind that are attracted by blood. It was a rough trip. I also felt a sense of stress to get in and out with urgency...it was not an excited urgency but a stressed one.
They did have a photographer on board, however, we were not given a picture CD. Instead they gave us a little slip of paper with a link to a website that had the photos for us to download (if you acted within 2 weeks). I want to highlight that all of the photos featured in this blog were taken by me with my camera.
The snorkel they provided was the cheap kind with no splash guard or relief. It was not good equipment for this type of swimming...it made it difficult to get the water out.
They did have snacks every time we came in from the water. They served lunch on the boat which was basically sandwiches...it was good.
At the end of the trip, everyone was happy because we did see a shark. In total we saw 2 manta rays from the boat, several humpback whales (including one that breached) and had 2 swims with a fantastic shark.
Whale Shark-n-Dive had a reputation of being professional, customer-oriented...a great company. They have the best equipment and the fastest, nicest boat on the water. (by the way...I did find out that generally speaking, if a dive shop is located on the premises of your accommodation, there is a local discount for the trip (Aspen Holiday Park had a discount for WSD))
They lived up to the reputation. The equipment was very good (relief and splash guards on the snorkels (which made a big difference in the overall experience)). The boat was fantastic...nothing got wet unless it was meant to. It was FAST! Getting in and out of the boat was significantly easier...the board on the back of the boat is lower, I think, and it seems softer for some reason. I did not see any blood. I liked the upper deck area and the boat had a hot water shower on the back so you could rinse off and warm up a bit. They have a videographer on board and he sells videos from the trip. They too had snacks every time we came out of the water...the snacks were excellent (more than just opening a bag of cookies). Lunch consisted of sandwiches and salads and was very good.
My original trip was canceled - no boats went out due to 3 meter swells so I rescheduled (to my back-up day).
On my second attempt, it was a beautiful day on the water...sunny and calm. We saw everything including a ray during the morning snorkel, two mantas (that we swam with), humpbacks including a little baby on his momma's back, a sea snake on the surface, turtles and a crazy marlin that jumped out of the water no less than 15 times. We did not see a shark.
I rearranged my return to Perth (with Matthew's help) and rescheduled for the third attempt. The weather was not as nice on my last trip but we did get to swim with a manta and swim twice with a very slow moving shark. Both trips with WSD were great. I did not feel rushed or pressured...there was only an air of excitement but no stress. I would highly recommend WSD (and tell them Noel said "Hi").
Overall I LOVED my time on the water in Exmouth.
The structure of all of the trips were the same. The bus picked me up outside my accomidation at about 7:15am. We were taken to Tantabiddi Boat Ramp. There was a tidal area that we had to cross...sometimes it was dry and sometimes it was a river.
On one of the trips out it was guarded by a very brave crab. He was standing at attention as ridged as I had ever seen a crab. The gal in front of me thought it was fake until she stopped and bent down to look at him and he snapped his claws so hard and fast that she jumped and let out a yelp. It was funny. He stayed at attention. An aggressive and brave crab.
Everyone going out to see sharks met at this beach. The individual boats sent tenders to collect the passengers.
Once on board the shark boat, snorkeling equipment was sorted for everyone. They gave the boat safety talk and then the snorkel brief. The boats then moved to a spot to do a morning snorkel.
The morning snorkel was an opportunity for everyone to test out the borrowed equipment. It also was a good way for the crew to get a read on everyone's snorkel ability. NRDs snorkel spot offered nothing...there was nothing to see and it was a big race. Everyone was with their group (2 swimming groups on the boat) and we were told to just follow our spotter. The snorkel time with WSD was on your own. A pleasant experience.
We went to a beautiful spot and saw some fantastic coral and reef fish. We saw a huge ray under a coral overhang. There was a great variety of different coral, each fighting for their spot on the ground and their access to sunlight. One of my favorites is the Fungidae. They are the most mobile of the hard corals. I saw other invertebrates including nudibranchs (shell-less snails) of different colors and shapes.
We were able to see many different reef fish. I like watching the cleaning wrasse work away at cleaning stations (see picture with a parrot fish). Parrot fish are fun...the front of their faces look like a parrot beak. While snorkeling you can hear crackling in the water...that is the parrot fish scrapping coral to get the algae out of the coral. You can even see scrapes on coral from the parrot fish.
The turtle was a nice goodbye to my last whale shark snorkel experience.
The snorkel ended and everyone was back on the boat by about 10am when the spotter planes went up in the air. The waiting game began....During the wait to get a good call from a spotter plane, we kept an eye out for other marine life. Mantas were a exciting spot.
On the two WSD trips, we were able to swim with the mantas. Manta swimming is different from whale shark swimming. You don't want to swim after them. If they are curious, they will approach you. We silently lowered ourselves into the water and floated over to them but kept a distance.
It was beautiful! They are so graceful and beautiful. Mantas feed on plankton and small fish. They funnel food in and have gill bars to keep the good stuff and let the water through. Mantas were called devil rays in old lore but they are harmless beautiful animals that are among the most awe-inspiring things I have seen. I remember the silence in the water as the beautiful animals danced in the water to music that they seemed to create. It was stunning. They were curious enough to stick around and show us part of the symphony that they create daily. It is magical; beauty and grace itself.
Humpback whales were migrating up from Antarctica to their nursery up between Indonesia and northern Australia. Up there they have their young, train the young whales, breed, etc. They return in the spring to go back to feed.
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From the boat we saw some whales in the distance...we only saw water spouts. Others surfaced close to the boat. I was able to see two different whales breach. It was so exciting to see the beautiful animal thrust herself out of the water and twist so that her fins wrapped around her body. Apparently, they normally are very focused this time of year and are not more active than they need to be....so this was a special treat. In September/October, they tend to be more active and they jump and play much more.
Spotting amazing animals is to fill the time while the waiting game continues for big spotty fish. We were given a talk on whale sharks. Very little is known about whale sharks. They are the largest fish in the sea. They can grow up to 18 meters. Most of the sharks around Exmouth are juvenile males (5 to 7 meters long). They don't know where they go when they leave the Ningaloo waters or why they surface. The guess is that they follow their food source. They do tend to surface more when it is sunny out (and it is MUCH easier for the spotter planes to see). All of the world's largest animals including whale sharks are filter feeders. The largest animals feed on the smallest. Whale sharks are beautiful and graceful. They have large tails that help propel them. The top of their body is hard for protection while their underbelly is softer.
Whale sharks are protected in most nations. Only 10 snorkelers are allowed to swim with a shark at one time for a maximum of an hour. You must maintain a distance of 3 meters from head and body and 4 meters from their tail. You are not allowed to swim over or under them. Diving down generally scares them and that makes them dive...so duck diving is not allowed (also why you only snorkel and not dive with them).
When a shark is spotted, the boat engines rev and they tell you to get ready. People get with their group (20 people on the boat = 2 groups) and get masks ready and puts fins on. The boat pulls up in front of the shark. The crew member who is the spotter gets in and indicates that they see the shark by raising their hand in the air. The group gets in as fast as possible with a giant stride entry into the water and you must position yourself behind the spotter or on the other side of the shark behind the sharks eyes.
I got in the water and looked for our spotter. I was also looking in the water...looking. I saw a shadow and soon the shadow became defined. He was beautiful and right in front of me...swimming straight at me. It was like a dream. I woke out of my dream moment and remembered to swim out of the way. Once I was behind the spotter, I just swam. My goal was to keep with him as long as I could. Sometimes they swim fast and all you get to appreciate is their huge powerful tail. If the shark swims slowly, there is time to look down his amazing body.Then swim like mad and take it all in until you are told to stop to let the other group take their turn. It is wild and amazing! The boat comes around and picks you up. Then, if you are lucky enough, you get ready to do it all over again.
I experienced both. I remember kicking for all I was worth (by the way when the say anyone can swim with whale sharks...that is true. But you may see lots of tail). In my moment, swimming, all others did not exist. Just me and my big spotty fish. His beautiful pattern with rows of white spots in perfect lines. Then down the length of his body are ridges. So amazing. They also both had a whole community of fish including ramora and little reef fish. It is a whole little ecosystem around the animal. The fish use the shark for protection. It is crazy how many fish travel with this giant of the ocean.
I was lucky to get two swims with the sharks I saw. They are beautiful powerful animals that give us the gift of visiting the surface. I remembered to take pictures and the second trip, I took video. Excuse the quality, I was swimming fast even if it does not seem like it. :)
What an amazing animal...what an amazing experience!
I found out, once I arrived in WA, that NRD's reputation is that they are "a bunch of cowboys" and do not do things in a professional manner. They have their own plane but the rumor is that sometimes they don't even put it up. I don't know if all the rumors are true but I was concerned about booking through them.
The day I went out with NRD...there was only one other company that braved the weather and sent a boat out. The good thing was that there was no concerns about another boat getting our shark...the bad thing was that it was rough and they ended up going in early (after we saw our shark and he dove) because of rough weather (high winds). Their normal boat had a hole in the hull (rumors are from hitting the reef - very bad for the reef and boat) so we used their spare boat (actually it was their old boat that they had sold but were now renting it back until their new boat was fixed). The waves crashed over the sides as we were going out to look for sharks. Anything that was not in a tub with a lid (which they provided) was soaked. The crew was fun and worked hard. They were very blunt about the international regulations to protect the sharks which was a good thing. They did push very hard with respect to swimming fast and the speed of entry in/exit out of the water. Getting in and out of the boat was really hard. I saw more people with bloody scratches and cuts and if someone was not bleeding, they were bruised. We were on the hunt for sharks...but not the kind that are attracted by blood. It was a rough trip. I also felt a sense of stress to get in and out with urgency...it was not an excited urgency but a stressed one.
They did have a photographer on board, however, we were not given a picture CD. Instead they gave us a little slip of paper with a link to a website that had the photos for us to download (if you acted within 2 weeks). I want to highlight that all of the photos featured in this blog were taken by me with my camera.
The snorkel they provided was the cheap kind with no splash guard or relief. It was not good equipment for this type of swimming...it made it difficult to get the water out.
They did have snacks every time we came in from the water. They served lunch on the boat which was basically sandwiches...it was good.
At the end of the trip, everyone was happy because we did see a shark. In total we saw 2 manta rays from the boat, several humpback whales (including one that breached) and had 2 swims with a fantastic shark.
They lived up to the reputation. The equipment was very good (relief and splash guards on the snorkels (which made a big difference in the overall experience)). The boat was fantastic...nothing got wet unless it was meant to. It was FAST! Getting in and out of the boat was significantly easier...the board on the back of the boat is lower, I think, and it seems softer for some reason. I did not see any blood. I liked the upper deck area and the boat had a hot water shower on the back so you could rinse off and warm up a bit. They have a videographer on board and he sells videos from the trip. They too had snacks every time we came out of the water...the snacks were excellent (more than just opening a bag of cookies). Lunch consisted of sandwiches and salads and was very good.
My original trip was canceled - no boats went out due to 3 meter swells so I rescheduled (to my back-up day). On my second attempt, it was a beautiful day on the water...sunny and calm. We saw everything including a ray during the morning snorkel, two mantas (that we swam with), humpbacks including a little baby on his momma's back, a sea snake on the surface, turtles and a crazy marlin that jumped out of the water no less than 15 times. We did not see a shark.
I rearranged my return to Perth (with Matthew's help) and rescheduled for the third attempt. The weather was not as nice on my last trip but we did get to swim with a manta and swim twice with a very slow moving shark. Both trips with WSD were great. I did not feel rushed or pressured...there was only an air of excitement but no stress. I would highly recommend WSD (and tell them Noel said "Hi").Overall I LOVED my time on the water in Exmouth.
The structure of all of the trips were the same. The bus picked me up outside my accomidation at about 7:15am. We were taken to Tantabiddi Boat Ramp. There was a tidal area that we had to cross...sometimes it was dry and sometimes it was a river.
On one of the trips out it was guarded by a very brave crab. He was standing at attention as ridged as I had ever seen a crab. The gal in front of me thought it was fake until she stopped and bent down to look at him and he snapped his claws so hard and fast that she jumped and let out a yelp. It was funny. He stayed at attention. An aggressive and brave crab.Everyone going out to see sharks met at this beach. The individual boats sent tenders to collect the passengers.
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| Beautiful Coral Interaction |
The morning snorkel was an opportunity for everyone to test out the borrowed equipment. It also was a good way for the crew to get a read on everyone's snorkel ability. NRDs snorkel spot offered nothing...there was nothing to see and it was a big race. Everyone was with their group (2 swimming groups on the boat) and we were told to just follow our spotter. The snorkel time with WSD was on your own. A pleasant experience.
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| Fungidae Corals |
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| Nudibranch |
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| Parrot-fish at Cleaning Station |
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| Turtle |
The turtle was a nice goodbye to my last whale shark snorkel experience.
The snorkel ended and everyone was back on the boat by about 10am when the spotter planes went up in the air. The waiting game began....During the wait to get a good call from a spotter plane, we kept an eye out for other marine life. Mantas were a exciting spot.
On the two WSD trips, we were able to swim with the mantas. Manta swimming is different from whale shark swimming. You don't want to swim after them. If they are curious, they will approach you. We silently lowered ourselves into the water and floated over to them but kept a distance. It was beautiful! They are so graceful and beautiful. Mantas feed on plankton and small fish. They funnel food in and have gill bars to keep the good stuff and let the water through. Mantas were called devil rays in old lore but they are harmless beautiful animals that are among the most awe-inspiring things I have seen. I remember the silence in the water as the beautiful animals danced in the water to music that they seemed to create. It was stunning. They were curious enough to stick around and show us part of the symphony that they create daily. It is magical; beauty and grace itself.
 |
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Humpback whales were migrating up from Antarctica to their nursery up between Indonesia and northern Australia. Up there they have their young, train the young whales, breed, etc. They return in the spring to go back to feed.
-
Spotting amazing animals is to fill the time while the waiting game continues for big spotty fish. We were given a talk on whale sharks. Very little is known about whale sharks. They are the largest fish in the sea. They can grow up to 18 meters. Most of the sharks around Exmouth are juvenile males (5 to 7 meters long). They don't know where they go when they leave the Ningaloo waters or why they surface. The guess is that they follow their food source. They do tend to surface more when it is sunny out (and it is MUCH easier for the spotter planes to see). All of the world's largest animals including whale sharks are filter feeders. The largest animals feed on the smallest. Whale sharks are beautiful and graceful. They have large tails that help propel them. The top of their body is hard for protection while their underbelly is softer.
Whale sharks are protected in most nations. Only 10 snorkelers are allowed to swim with a shark at one time for a maximum of an hour. You must maintain a distance of 3 meters from head and body and 4 meters from their tail. You are not allowed to swim over or under them. Diving down generally scares them and that makes them dive...so duck diving is not allowed (also why you only snorkel and not dive with them).When a shark is spotted, the boat engines rev and they tell you to get ready. People get with their group (20 people on the boat = 2 groups) and get masks ready and puts fins on. The boat pulls up in front of the shark. The crew member who is the spotter gets in and indicates that they see the shark by raising their hand in the air. The group gets in as fast as possible with a giant stride entry into the water and you must position yourself behind the spotter or on the other side of the shark behind the sharks eyes.
I got in the water and looked for our spotter. I was also looking in the water...looking. I saw a shadow and soon the shadow became defined. He was beautiful and right in front of me...swimming straight at me. It was like a dream. I woke out of my dream moment and remembered to swim out of the way. Once I was behind the spotter, I just swam. My goal was to keep with him as long as I could. Sometimes they swim fast and all you get to appreciate is their huge powerful tail. If the shark swims slowly, there is time to look down his amazing body.Then swim like mad and take it all in until you are told to stop to let the other group take their turn. It is wild and amazing! The boat comes around and picks you up. Then, if you are lucky enough, you get ready to do it all over again.
I experienced both. I remember kicking for all I was worth (by the way when the say anyone can swim with whale sharks...that is true. But you may see lots of tail). In my moment, swimming, all others did not exist. Just me and my big spotty fish. His beautiful pattern with rows of white spots in perfect lines. Then down the length of his body are ridges. So amazing. They also both had a whole community of fish including ramora and little reef fish. It is a whole little ecosystem around the animal. The fish use the shark for protection. It is crazy how many fish travel with this giant of the ocean.
I was lucky to get two swims with the sharks I saw. They are beautiful powerful animals that give us the gift of visiting the surface. I remembered to take pictures and the second trip, I took video. Excuse the quality, I was swimming fast even if it does not seem like it. :)
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What an amazing animal...what an amazing experience!
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