Highlights of the whale shark season

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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