Swimming with whale sharks

An early start (4.30am) to drive down to Coral Bay for our whale shark tour. The day began with a reef snorkel and within minutes we spotted sea turtles, which was definitely on our wish list, along with sea cucumbers and a myriad of beautiful coral fish. Then we motored North to the outside of the reef looking for the elusive whale sharks. The spotter plane had engine trouble (and had to return to the landing strip) but we loved standing up on the fly deck of the boat with our eyes pealed.......and we spotted them! It was the most incredible experience sliding into the ocean to swim with these 6 metre long, beautifully patterned, gigantic fish.
We had quite a large swell which made getting back into the boat an adventure in itself. We saw a number of humpback whales including a very close encounter with one that surfaced and breached next to the boat. We also spotted Minke Whales and dolphins. The crew were fantastic and were very supportive of helping the person with the busted wing back into the boat (the winning technique involved being grabbed under the armpits and heaved up onto the duckboard in a 2 metre swell)!Read more