Archive for the ‘Whale Shark’ Category
December 23rd, 2008 by Ningaloo
Just recently I found this article about the Basking Sharks off of BA.
It saddens me that such gentle creatures could have been subjected to the brutal forces of human fishing practices.
The Basking Shark is the 2nd largest shark in the ocean; under that of the Whale Shark. The Whale Shark is also on the endangered species list – once again mainly due to commercial fishing practices which were rife through third world countries. Thankfully with the combined effort of researchers and passionate individuals many of these countries have now banned the commercial fishing for Whale Shark. Our industry here in Australia; have been the leaders of Eco Tourism with Whale Sharks and have been used as an example to teach these other countries that a Whale Shark is more valuable to the countries economy alive rather than dead.
The Whale Shark unlike the basking shark were mainly killed for food; their meat being referred to as ‘Tofu Meat’ due to it’s tender white texture. The article that I refer to here – suggests the primary reason for the slaughter of thousands of Basking Sharks was primarily because they were classified as ‘pests’ by the commercial fishing industry – due to their large size they were often caught up in nets which were set out for salmon. The article also says the main way they would kill the sharks was with a blade fastened to the front of the boats hull – where they would senslessly cut them in half.
Other marine life were also targets; such as seals, sea lions, black bears, mergansers, and kingfishers.
Thankfully humans are becoming more aware – the only question now is – is it too late?
It is a really interesting article – you can go here to read it.
http://timestranscript.canadaeast.com/opinion/article/519239
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December 31st, 2007 by Ningaloo
The recent report on the increase in whale sharks at Ningaloo has brought a spotlight onto our beautiful piece of Australia and the unique ecotourism experience we offer.
Since publishing our post on the report, we’ve seen articles in all the major papers over here, and several scientific and environmental publications. The story was quickly picked up in the US, where reports have increased interest in the whale shark experience.
If you’ve experienced a whale shark tour with us and would like to share your experience with Americans who subscribe to the Discovery Channel’s News Blog, go to this link and submit a comment.
We know that ecotourism has contributed to the turnaround in whale shark numbers by raising awareness. So the more people who hear about and snorkel with these amazing creatures under the guidance of eco-accredited tour guides, the more likely they are to be respected and protected – not just here in Ningaloo, but around the world.
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Posted by Ningaloo Tags: Ecotourism, ningaloo, Snorkel, whale shark tour, whale sharks
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December 21st, 2007 by Ningaloo
Conservationist and marine biologist Brad Norman has pointed to some good news about whale sharks in a new report revealing the results of a 12-year study.
There have been so many reports lately of the global population of whale sharks declining – and this still remains the case – but the great news for Ningaloo is that our whale sharks are thriving. As Brad puts it: “The study suggests that the management practices at Ningaloo are working for the whale shark.” Conservation is paying off.
All of this means you can come to Ningaloo and swim with the whale sharks with the confidence of knowing these stunning creatures are being protected – and that Brad is committed to making the knowledge gained at Ningaloo available to other parts of the world embarking on whale conservation projects.
Brad’s work with Ecocean has won him several awards, and the site is worth a browse for anyone interested in whale sharks.
You can also contribute your photos to Ecocean’s identification library – you never know, your whale shark may be one that no one else has yet photographed.
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Posted by Ningaloo Tags: conservation, Ecotourism, Whale Shark
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November 11th, 2007 by Ningaloo
Take a look at these whale shark photos by William Thomas, a US fisherman who takes amazing pics!
Seeing the clear shot of a swimmer next to a 40-foot whale shark brings home the enormous gentle power of these animals. Easy to see why so many adventure travellers just have to do this!
We come across lots of whale shark photos and post the best of them. Send us yours!
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November 9th, 2007 by Ningaloo
The word is rapidly spreading around the world about the Ningaloo whale sharks, with recent Internet news coverage giving us a global spotlight.
When we were declared national winner of the PublicityShip Hidden Jewel Awards, we received a publicity campaign as part of our prize.
One of the results was dialogue with the travel editors of the global news site, www.about.com, who were interested to find out more about Ningaloo and the whale sharks.
We thought nothing more of it until yesterday, when we were alerted to this fantastic article!
We’re so delighted to see this kind of global internet coverage for our beautiful region and magnificent whale sharks. The word is rapidly spreading and what’s great about this is we don’t have to advertise. The message gets out there because people are genuinely fascinated by the experience of swimming with the biggest fish in the sea.
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October 19th, 2007 by Ningaloo
I just came across this delightful video. I feel sure these kids will remember this experience and that it will contribute to their inner psyche – helping to produce adults that care for our marine environment.
As a staunch supporter of ecotourism, I’d say that first-hand experience of the natural world needs to be added to the firing of children’s imaginations through art.
Here’s an interesting post from global warming specialist, Jane Genovese, which gives us real evidence from research showing the importance of a child’s early experiences in terms of their commitment to the environment.
Fascinating stuff.
Unfortunately, there are tour operators that won’t allow children to participate in interactive experiences because they are viewed as a liability – unpredictable in their responses with the potential to cause damage to the fragile environment.
While it’s essential that we protect our environment, children need to take part, with us adults taking responsibility for educating and monitoring them as they do so.
We encourage families to join our whale shark tour as a group. In fact our boat has been designed to make it easy for kids to hop in and out of the water, as the marlin board sits flush with the water. Even two-year-olds can join in – all the kids need is their own wetsuits as we only have adult sizes.
And if the kids paint their experience afterwards, we’d love to see the results!
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September 20th, 2007 by Ningaloo
Q: What’s one of the most romantic places you’ve visited and what makes that location so special?
A: (from Elle Macpherson) Ningaloo Reef, a virtually untouched area in Western Australia, a beautiful haven of clear, tropical waters an endless blue sky.
Taken from “Getting Intimate with Elle”
I already knew that Ningaloo is one of Elle’s favourite destinations. She used to fly in on an exclusive jet for some R & R with her family. We’d all find out about it well and truly after they’d gone. The locals around here aren’t too fussed by glamorous stars, although I reckon if the male population had of found out, there would have been an entourage of local boys finding their way down there. I wouldn’t have bothered… it would have been far too depressing; at 5′4 I would merely vanish in her presence :)
I participated in a safari tour from Exmouth one day – the tour operator was an old Exmouth Legend – Neil McLeod. He told us about when Elle came to Ningaloo to film some ads for Tourism WA. He walked us through the experience… Neil on a beach with Elle who is topless (yes, that’s right, topless!!) getting her tea. Every man on the tour was green with envy!
So why would Elle love it here so much? I guess for the same reason that so many of us get stuck here: the pristine turquoise waters, amazing marine life and the huge stretch of vacant sandy beaches. We have paradise at our back door. My trip around Australia started and finished with Exmouth. It is one of the most amazing places in Australia. From a backdrop of rugged red canyons to the glistening pristine water, with the creatures that occupy both earth and sea – truly amazing. There is ALWAYS something you will come across that will take your breath away!
So, as the latest Tourism WA ad campaign says, “Where the bloody hell are ya?” Get out to the Cape Range National Park for an experience of a lifetime!
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Posted by Ningaloo Posted in Accommodation, Adventure Travel, Canyons and Gorges, Whale Shark | No Comments »
September 20th, 2007 by Ningaloo
Governor Zushan – Governor of the Zhejiang Province, Lu Zushan – has declared that whale sharks will officially be taken off their menu.
Woohoo!! This has come about due to Premier Alan Carpenter writing to Governor Zushan after media reports emerged that a 6m whale shark had been caught by Zhejiang fishermen and was to be sold for up to $8 per kilogram.
“In my letter, I explained to Governor Lu that the whale shark is much-loved by Western Australians and is one of our best tourist attractions,” Mr Carpenter said.
“I also said that the whale shark is a protected species in Australia, and requested that the Governor encourage Zhejiang fishers to join us in protecting this endangered animal.
“Significantly, Governor Lu has agreed to consider including the whale shark in Zhejiang province’s list of protected species. I am very pleased with this outcome and will closely monitor the Governor’s progress on this matter.”
Whale sharks have been slaughtered for many years – the Japanese call their meat ‘tofu fish’ because of its soft white texture. Thankfully, as the awareness of these magnificent animals increases, a majority of countries have ceased commercial fishing for the sharks.
One small but significant step for the whale sharks. Read more here.
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August 16th, 2007 by Ningaloo
Watch this Channel Nine broadcast created after Jules Lund joined us in July to film the whale sharks!
It was an awesome day; we all had a ball and Jules was awesome!
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July 24th, 2007 by Ningaloo
The whale shark season may be over, but the adventure continues.
Now’s the time of year when the water temperature over the Ningaloo Reef begins to rise steadily to a 30 degree crescendo in summer. This makes the Reef ideal for snorkellers – and there’s certainly plenty to see and even photograph in our beautiful clear water.
Some of the best spots are at Ningaloo Reef Retreat and Turquoise Bay, where the coral begins just 10 metres off the beach. As summer draws on, this is the place to be, with temperatures on this west side of the cape around 8 degrees cooler than in Exmouth, thanks partly to a refreshing sea breeze.
As well as colourful coral and sponge gardens, the list of fish goes on and on – parrot fish, sea stars, humbugs, angel fish, clownfish, butterflyfish, surgeons and anemones. Patient snorkellers regularly spot huge lazy turtles, who can be seen heaving themselves up the beach to lay their eggs from November.
There are fantastic drift snorkels in both the Retreat and Turquoise Bay, and the Retreat has sea kayaks available for those who want to paddle further out to an area known as Blue Lagoon. Snorkelling and sea kayaking at the Retreat must be booked ahead. I recommend a full day tour that includes Turquoise Bay too.
Another good option is the Ningaloo Coral Explorer II - a glass bottom vessel that shows off the Ningaloo coral and has snorkelling options for those who want to get a closer look.
You can be sure of some stunning tropical fish on this tour, and their guests often spot manta rays, dugongs, dolphins, turtles and reef sharks too.
These are both great tour operators and I’d be happy to organise a snorkel for you. Contact me for further info.
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Posted by Ningaloo Posted in Adventure Travel, Ecotourism, Manta Ray, Sea Turtle, Snorkel, Underwater photography, Whale Shark | No Comments »
July 23rd, 2007 by Ningaloo
Sadly the 2007 Whale Shark season has wound down, due to bad weather and some hard days where we didn’t get to swim with the Sharks.
It was quite deflating really. The 2007 season was my 4th Whale Shark season; this time of the year is such a highlight! The town is a buzz with Wicked Vans carrying lo9ads of backpackers and Skywest planes providing many more flights that usual carrying in punters from all over the world who are on a mission to swim with the biggest fish in the sea; the Mighty Whale Shark!”
The ‘end of season’ call didn’t really sink in until about 2 hours after we made the call as I had been side tracked preparing our application for the West Australian Tourism awards; so when it finally dawned on me; that it really was the last trip for the year I had a weird mixture of emotions…. sadness, emptiness and then finally excitement – as we are now in to our FISHING season!
Our first charter begins this Friday; and now the preperation for the 2008 Whale Shark season begins!
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July 6th, 2007 by Ningaloo
WOOHOO! The Whale Sharks are still here and are the best EVER!!
Yesterday we swam with 5 different sharks and saw approx 70 manta rays strung across the back of the reef all feeding in unison.
Leith our videogragher also managed to get some great footage of a bronze whaler shark that came up to check our group out.
A quick note on accommodation:
The town will swell to approx 10 000 people in the coming fortnight as we head into the July school holidays. Accommodation is booked out and has been since January; so if you are planning to come up this way it is worth booking your accom ASAP.
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Posted by Ningaloo Posted in Adventure Travel, Ecotourism, Manta Ray, Snorkel, Underwater photography, Whale Shark | No Comments »
June 28th, 2007 by Ningaloo
Photos and video of whale sharks are close to our hearts. We encourage guests to take photos and videos on our whale shark tour, and we’re always on the look-out for them as they get posted to sites and blogs.
Here are some great ones that appeared recently on NHNZ images and YouTube.
Of course it doesn’t substitute for the real thing …
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June 25th, 2007 by Ningaloo
The time that I’ve spent on the boat so far has been amazing. I’ve seen and done some brilliant stuff… Some of the highlights so far:
Well, obviously the whale sharks. We’ve seen really little ones, just 2.5-3m, all the way up to a 10m one – a female that looked suspiciously pregnant, so the industry and researchers working here are all very excited.
Whale sharks aside, my biggest highlight was a really long snorkel with about six manta rays. It was brilliant! They are such amazing creatures, very curious and very gentle – provided you don’t chase them, they’ll come within millimetres of you.
The scariest moment – and the biggest adrenaline rush so far – was when the skipper let us (just the staff, NOT the customers!) jump into a bit bait ball (heaps of krill and little fish), where we saw pygmy mantas and walls of tuna rushing through to eat what we were swimming in! When the tuna swam through the second time they split up into two separate groups and a 2m bronze whaler shark came through the middle of them and charged straight at us. Our videographer, Leith, charged back at it with his camera, which put it off for a while but didn’t stop it from circling under us until we got back on the boat. It was an amazing buzz to get that close!!
I’ve also swum with a baby hammerhead, we’ve seen orcas, humpbacks, huge pods of spinner dolphins, bottlenoses and other dolphins, tiger sharks and even blue whales. We’re really lucky here at Ningaloo because the reef drops off straight into the open ocean so anything and everything turns up.
As well as being out on the boat I’ve managed to fit in some time going out with pilots for the whale shark spotting. Seeing the sharks and other marine life from the air – especially the whales – is awesome, and the birds-eye view of the reef is absolutely breath taking.
Exmouth is a very special place.
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June 14th, 2007 by Ningaloo
There’s a great online news article on news.com.au by Mike Smith called “In Deep with Whale Sharks”. People get an emotional high from the experience of swimming with a whale shark and the abundance of marine life, and there are some great quotes in here that express that:
“At no stage do the daunting pre-dive thoughts of meeting up with a deadly man-eater enter my mind. Sheer exhilaration takes over, the adrenalin rush so great we need little encouragement to take another three plunges.”
and
“The abundance of sea creatures in the marine park is another factor – giant manta rays, turtles, dolphins and various giant fish and sharks among them.”
Great article Mike: In Deep With Whale Sharks
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June 13th, 2007 by Ningaloo
Well – the whale sharks are absolutely CRANKING!!! I can’t help myself – I get so excited! Swimming with these wonderful creatures is still as much of a joy to me now as it was on my very first tour.
We’re hoping that with the fantastic numbers we’re currently seeing that the season will continue well in to July.
I joined the crew on Sunday and swam with three stunning whale sharks, including a young male at about 4m who was very cruisy and allowed us to have a really good look at him. Best of the day though was the 8m shark which was a little speedy but still breathtaking.
On Monday we broke our previous all-time record of nine whale sharks by swimming with 10 on one tour!! That’s ten different whale sharks. It was tremendous!
We also stayed behind after the whale sharks had left to swim with some AWESOME manta rays. As we gathered in a tight group and made sure they didn’t feel threatened by us, they milled around in front of us for quite some time. They were simply stunning.
Today we swam with four whale sharks by 11 am and had heaps of spinner dolphins playing at the bow of the boat.
Hope business is well for everyone. Remember if you ever need any POS or extra information on our tours or Exmouth please feel free to contact Mel or Kat in the office.
Happy days!
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June 11th, 2007 by Ningaloo
We recently had the team from Channel Nine out on the boat with us filming a segment for their brand new TV show, ‘10 Things To Do Before You Die’.
Here are some pics from the day, including presenter Jules Lund interviewing our videographer Leith Holtman.
Snorkelling with whalesharks is most definitely one thing to do before you die! Some of the comments we receive in our guest book and emails every day confirm this:
…we had the best day and are still raving about it to everyone at work! Vanessa, Perth
The best trip of my life! Ben, Rockhampton
I wanted to email you this photo – I thought he looked like the king of the ocean even though he was only 2 metres small!!! He was magnificent!!! Hiroe, Japan
It was simply the best thing I have ever done (and I have done some fantastic things!)…. Linda, Scotland
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June 8th, 2007 by Ningaloo
We get to see a great variety of posts on Ningaloo and Whale Sharks – we’ll start to highlight some of these here on our blog.
Some beautiful pictures from Chris and Vee here in Shark Bay and Ningaloo Reef – a birthday wish come true.
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May 18th, 2007 by Ningaloo
Welcome to the start of our 2007 whale shark season!
Mother nature kept us on our toes with a slower than usual start this year. The first week of April was chaotic with whale sharks being sighted in large numbers, however the middle two weeks were a tad disappointing, with sightings being a little sketchy (only every second day) which is unusual for this time of the year.
Our theory is that maybe the food was a little lower than usual, so the sharks were feeding lower and not at the surface where we want them.
But by the last week of April they had finally become reliable and consistent, with sightings occurring daily.
We are now into a ripper season! Last week we averaged swimming with two whale sharks a day, and four on Wednesday!
As I write this it’s 11 am and we have already swum with a 7m shark. These days are so special and memorable!
Even more special is the baby whale shark out there at the moment – gorgeous at just 3m. And some big suckers too! The whale shark you can see in the picture with the dorsal fin sticking out of the water is guesstimated at approx 10m!
Last week our snorkellers were also blessed with an array of other marine life – minky whales, turtles, two big manta rays and an abundance of colourful fish.
We are really looking forward to the arrival of the humpback whales on their annual pilgrimage which should be arriving in the next few weeks. We can’t wait!
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Posted by Ningaloo Posted in Manta Ray, Snorkel, Whale Shark | No Comments »
April 24th, 2007 by Ningaloo
Tourism WA have produced a stunning series of photos, including a number of photos from Ningaloo Reef. There are great shots of Whale Sharks, but also Green Turtles, Yellowtail and coral.
Its not just Ningaloo they cover, you can also see great shots of other West Australian locations such as the Bungle Bungles, Rottnest and Margaret River.
And importantly, that is where you can go to find the world famous ‘Ningaloo Girl’.
Exmouth really has a lot more to offer than just swimming with whale sharks, so its only fair that Tourism WA take the time to show off our beaches and water sports (such as kite surfing).
If you prefer it to the whale shark link … here is a text link to the WA Tourism photos on Flickr.
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Posted by Ningaloo Posted in Underwater photography, Whale Shark | No Comments »
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