Just in case you’re not familiar with these gentle giants, they are the largest fish in the world. They are harmless, docile, serene, and they like to hang out at Ningaloo Reef for several months each year – generally advertised as April – July. We never thought we’d get the chance to swim with the Whale Sharks this late in August, but some other travellers we met back at Karijini told us the tours were still running. So we went out with a group of 14 hoping to see these beautiful animals.

The view of the reef was quite different from the other side of the breaking waves.

We stopped for a snorkel inside the reef first and saw an enormous bombie of coral with heaps of fish hanging out there. Fergus and Harry have been diving with John since their feet were too small for the smallest flippers. We used to make booties from old wetsuits to get the flippers to fit. John started scuba diving at secondary school, and has taught the boys well. They seem to have a love for the ocean in their genes.

Here’s John and Harry investigating what’s hiding under the rocks.

There was a professional photographer, Michelle, on the trip who took these photos. But I’m sure you thought I took them. Ha! Here’s one of all of us………

There was so much to see down there. Here are some of Michelle’s photos.

I was really excited when they said there was a whale shark we could swim with, but it dived and we never found another before the spotter plane knocked off. Talk about a slump of the shoulders. Can’t manage a smile. Not fair. There’s been a whale shark to swim with every single day this season, except today, when we are here. It felt like the entire universe had been swimming with a whale shark except us. We all just sat there, feeling flat. They gave us a photo, to show how magnificent it would have been to see these fish.

I’m not sure if it makes us feel worse to have the photo when we didn’t even see it. It was hard to get excited about the next dive with the manta ray. These are huge, and very impressive. And it was a good dive.

It’s an elegant animal, and we were lucky to have the opportunity to swim with it.
But! Missing out on swimming with the whale shark gives us a reason to come back another time! It was all meant to be.