Louise had had swimming with whale sharks on her bucket list for a long time. But the huge, gentle creatures are seasonal visitors that usually leave the waters around the Ningaloo Reef near Exmouth, in late July or early August. The 5 week delay in Cairns had made this a casualty in that we would only get here in mid-September at best. But lady luck dealt us a generous hand – they had left but a week or so before we reached Exmouth, they had returned.

We consulted the Visitor Centre on the Thursday afternoon we arrived and booked to go out on Saturday afternoon with Exmouth Dive Centre. At the point of sale, it had been made clear that there were Whale Sharks in the area that day but there were no guarantees that we would get to swim with one.

The photo above right is on board with Danielle giving us the pre-swim. talk. The spotter planes had confirmed multiple sightings and soon we were ready to get up close and personal with these goliaths of the ocean.

During the first swim with one I was attempting to swim alongside and take photos. I succeeded at neither. These shots were taken by Sara, the Italian photographer lass.

Left is a shot of my thumb in the vicinity of a Whale Shark on my second swim. This graceful fish, and yes, Whale Sharks are fish, was a female moving slowly through the water just below the surface, probably warming up after or before some serious plankton harvesting at cooler depths. At one point I was swimming about 3 metres to her left with no others humans in sight – an unforgettable experience.

Exmouth – Ningaloo Marine Park

We rode around the top of the peninsula from Exmouth, through the Cape Range National Park which is a World Heritage Site, and south far enough to reach an unmarked turn-off to the beach that had been described to us. After 200 metres we parked our bikes behind the dunes and walked through to the beach upon which the calm waters of the Ningaloo Marine Park were gently lapping. To anyone watching, it may have seemed as though Mr and Mrs Stig had come to the beach.

Apart from a few kite surfers, the place was deserted. That is, except for turtles.

It was the breeding season and turtles were mating in the waters right there as they might have been doing for hundreds of years. Speaking of duration, the male mounts the female and hangs on for 2 to 3 hours in a challenging and amorous aquatic bonk. His limbs didn’t seem entirely suited to this endeavour and we saw a few capsizes and premature partings. The sheer effort proved exhausting and the chap below was apparently washed up on the beach. On closer inspection, he was simply buggered from his nuptials and raised his head periodically to draw breath. In a few months, the females were due to climb up the beach and lay their eggs.

We felt privileged to have been able to visit this pristine site and witness such a beautiful haven of wild life.

With these lines I finally get up to date with these blogs – tomorrow morning, 27 September, we ride south from Exmouth to Coral Bay.