We arrived in Exmouth to an absolute down pour. There was a few moments where we were even unsure if we'd be able to get into Exmouth town site as the rain was so heavy they'd closed off many roads. Ever so grateful we had a cabin and not tents we drove up to the lighthouse for a look at the stormy coast.
Normally this kind of weather makes for red wine, hugs and dramatic photos but we were a little concerned that our swimming with the whale sharks was the next day - and although refundable, we knew we wouldn't be able to go back out another day as it was booked solid.
We woke in the morning to the eeriest calm. Coffees from the van out front and then we hopped on the bus where our guides explained that this weather was a pretty remarkable turnaround.
You could see the fog sitting over the ranges, which proved later to be an issue with the planes taking off - but made for pretty beautiful photos!
Once out on the water we moved away from the cloud bank and opened up some beautiful blue skies. The crew and other passengers were lovely and we listened to and heard about how to swim with the whale sharks.
Our first jump off the boat was to get accustomed to our gear and just test out the waters. Todd and I jumped in and as I took my first glance down I saw a curious grey shark making it's way towards us. Well, my eyes were apparently like dish plates - petrified!! It eventually swam away, most of the passengers didn't even see it and there was some debate back on the boat as to what type of shark it was! Two large manta rays were circling around and we were able to see them which was pretty special.
The planes couldn't take off at their usual time so we waited and waited once we were back on board. Eventually as people began to get a little sea sick the crew took the ship into the lagoon for calmer waters and we had lunch. Towards the end of lunch word quickly travelled that the planes were up and it wouldn't be long before we had a whale shark. The boat surged forward and suddenly was going full throttle - we had a shark!!
Around three other boats were racing towards the same point - we then had explained to us that there are many rules and regulations around how many people can be in the water with the shark at a time. If the shark gets spooked then it will dive and may not resurface.
Once we were there the shark had dived .. the other boats chose to wait for it to resurface but our captain made a wise choice and continued down the coast. This ended up being the best decision as we had three full drops in the water with the whale sharks.
It was such a rush jumping into the water, looking down and seeing this enormous creature moving towards you. It was so peaceful, so quiet. We were all so busy staring at it we forgot to swim! You have to swim pretty fast alongside it if you want to keep up! We popped our heads up and the crew were shouting SWIM SWIM!
Our second drop wasn't great, we jumped into a huge pile of stringy stingers. It was hard to battle through it to see the shark and even the shark dived in the end to avoid the stingers.
Our third and final drop was pretty great. Todd and I ended up at the front of the pack and for a few moments we were the other ones swimming alongside.
Once back on the boat we headed back to shore, far later than planned but the bonus was a beautiful sunset and humpback whales jumping from the ocean.
That evening, we checked into new accomodation and enjoyed a delicious seafood meal at Whalers.
Red letter day!