So today was a fun day for both of us, for different reasons. My TP enjoyed the lay day after yesterday’s 16 km hike. She managed to get in much stitching, caught up on her online videos and had a nice rest without having to follow her TP around.

For me it was one of those very special days when perhaps you do something that perhaps you may never do again, and experience something most humans never have. Today was about swimming with the beautiful whale sharks on the Indian Ocean, on the open ocean side of the adjacent fringing Ningaloo Reef.

I had the pleasure of joining 20 other excited tourists, and a particularly helpful and passionate crew, in the adventure of first finding (a spotter plane helps) then observing these majestic and gentle sea creatures. Split into two groups of ten snorkellers, we managed to have our first wondrous observation on the fourth try. Other attempts had our group ready and assembled on the transom of our fine vessel, only to have these plans aborted as our identified whale shark decided to explore the deeper parts of this ocean. Good practice perhaps but simply increased the suspense and perhaps anxiety too that could it be possible that today we might miss out? Thankfully no and the wait was so worth it.

With the safe, orderly and clear guidance of our crew, we each managed to be lined up as this stunning creature swam serenely by. For a small distance, we were able to swim along beside, from its pectoral fin back. A truly magnificent sight. Hopefully pictures are available tomorrow from our on-board and marine biologist camerawoman. Later we did get a second sighting and in the water again we went. Again a wonderful experience and for me in both cases, I was within 5 metres or so from this stunning fish. Estimates were that our two whale sharks were young and still developing, being in the order of 4-5 metres long. Accompanying them both was a gaggle of symbiotic fish, both under its belly and in advance of its mouth. It was quite an underwater menagerie of sorts in such close proximity.

We also enjoyed three other snorkels in the reef both beforehand and after our whale shark activities. In each case the reef was beautiful, colourful, diverse and alive with fish of all shapes, sizes and colours. I have had some very good snorkels in the past week and this was one of the best. While the sea was a little choppy, the visibility was good all day, so all in all, wonderful conditions. We also sighted a surfacing dugong on our cruise home, being like icing on the cake.

Afte returning back to our camp a little tired, we did enjoy some wonderful cuisine across the road in Exmouth. Great way to finish the day.

As a final piece of trivia, I have mentioned dingoes in this region and apparently they have been about town in recent days, so we all need to be a little careful given they are  wild and therefore unpredictable animals who seem to be losing their fear of humans.

Tomorrow there will be catch up pictures from our underwater observations from today. I do look forward to see how they turned out. For today, one picture gives you some idea of how far off-shore we were looking for whale sharks, while the other is just an image of a fellow boat cruising home on the beautiful jewelled Indian Ocean. This place is special.