We didn’t see a Whale Shark today; we were however lucky enough to swim with a beautiful Manta Ray; we also saw a Blue Whale! So it was not a wasted day after all!
Our passengers were still thrilled at what they saw during the day and most of them got to use their repeat tour and those who were unable to stay on to complete the trip have got their no sighting policy open for 3 years; they all said they were coming back; yay – so we will see them again in the future.
It just shows that every day is a completely new day out on the reef, and anything can happen! We went for a couple of snorkels and were waiting patiently in hope that today would not be like yesterday! But just as people were starting to give up hope we had a call for a whaleshark and what happened from there blew us all away!
It is beyond me that there is a couple of days where we won’t see a shark and then we will find 3 of them the very next tour~! I guess this is nature at it’s best! Always keeping us in suspense.
Shark # 1: FEMALE, approx 4m in length; approx 3 swims on this shark
Shark # 2: MALE, approx 7.5m in length; approx 2 swims on this shark
Shark # 3: MALE, approx 3min length; only 1 swim on this shark
Needless to say everybody had a fantastic day and were absolutely exhausted by the time the fruit platter and champers rolled up. All of our customers were absolutely thrilled with the day thaqt they had.
“AWESOME day! Great people – very professional; great weather; recommend it totally” Anna & Mark
We have had an exceptional start to the 2008 season. There have only been 2 days where we didn’t get to swim with a Whale Shark and that in comparison to most other April starts is fantastic!
Today we swam with 2 sharks, 1 was approx 3 1/2m and the other a little bigger at 4 1/2.
Some dear friends joined our tour today; Vix and Randall have worked in the dive industry up here for some years but are leaving town to move to the big city; Vix decided she wanted to have one last final Whale Shark spot; so went in and did it 4 1/2 months pregnant – so we have now taken claim to having the youngest child EVER swim with a shark lol.
We actually have a lot of pregnant women do the tour – they tell me it’s because they’re making the most of their freedom before having to care for someone around the clock – makes sense!~
“What a fantastic, AMAZING day! 7 snorkels with whale shark – an experience of a lifetime – Thankyou!” Karen and Dave Stratford, Geoff, Anne and Holly
YAY – it’s going off up here on the Ningaloo Reef. The Whale Sharks have been reliable for the most part of this season; out of 7 days they have been sighted every day; although there were 2 days where we were unable to swim with them; as they just didn’t want to know about us.
Tonight myself and our 2 gem spotters – Yoshi and Emily all attended the DEC (Dept of Environment and Conservation)
Whale Shark Interaction Guiding course.
In previous years I didn’t believe it would be necessary for me to attend as I work in the shop; but decided to support ‘the team’ and go this year. I am SO GLAD that I did; I learned so much!!
I have been doing this job for hmm well; this is my 5th season; and I love every second of it! I do wish I got to go on the boat more; but someone has to hold the office together :)
So the night was information packed; DID YOU KNOW that when the last lot of satelling tagging was done on the Whale Sharks; they were recorded going to gepths of 1500m; that is when the tags stopped working!!! How AMAZING is that??
And that big 18m shark that was killed in Taiwan years ago; the one with the 300 babies inside it at ALL DIFFERENT sizes of development; well a few of the babies who were at about 50cm in length were still alive; so they sent them to an underwater observatory in Japan!
Sad about the mother; but we would never have know that the Whale Sharks produce in such a way without the information being recorded.
There is so little known about many of the Whale Sharks characteristics; so I guess any information is useful!
Today we FINALLY got to swim with a Whale Shark! This is made even better that we had some REPEAT passengers on board who missed out on their first tour; thankfully we have the “No Sighting Policy” which meant they got to join us for another tour for FREE! They were ecstatic!
Today was another beautiful day on the reef; with magnificent snorkeling and glorious sunshine!
Again; we spotted a number of Whale Sharks but couldn’t get a swim on them; they were being very uncooperative!
As mentioned in my post yesterday; we rely on them swimming on the surface becasue they want to not becasue they have to; so there are naturally times when it is difficult to get a swim with them.
On a positive the day was magnificent and we had a BRILLIANT snorkel and swam with some turtles and lots of beautiful fish and still finished the day with a chilled glass of champers!
Although dissapointed by the sharks; everyone on board still had a joyful day; basking in the warm Ningaloo sun, swimming in our turquoise water which is still about 28 degrees!
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.