Wed 23rd Jun '21 - Day 12
Exmouth
Today is the day this whole trip was based around; a
trip to see and swim with Whale Sharks. Picked up a minibus at the front of the
site at 7.45am just after Sienna and Seb were collected by Deb. For all of
Sienna’s building excitement of spending the day with Deb there was a brief
moment of panic as she walked to the car, but that was soon overcome meanwhile
Seb barely looked back.
On the bus with two Scots working in A&E in
Gosford hospital we also pick up another couple (about to retire banking but
living in Sydney with his Canadian wife), a mother with two older sons we drive
north out of Exmouth and around the cape to Tantabiddi boat ramp where all the
tours leave from. Here we also pick up one kiwi guy who is staying in a nearby
campsite. There is a queue of people out to the jetty, but we are ushered
forwards to the other side as a tender comes in to collect us and in two runs takes
the 10 of us out on to the boat – 40ft fishing boat called wave rider.
There are four crew Curtis the skipper, James the deck
hand, Shelley water safety and ecologist and Jo the photographer. All aged
under 30, but all very confident in their respective roles. Once we have been
given goggles, snorkel, flippers and wetsuit and an orientation of the day
(James illustrating with mini figurines and soft toys) we cast off the mooring
and motor for 10mins to test out everything fits, works, doesn’t leak.
The outer reef that runs down the coast is here about
1.5km offshore. When you watch the horizon from on the beach or in the lagoon
the waves crashing on to the outer reef, look like a Hollywood set of
explosions going off left to right. The natural lagoon is only 2-4m deep and
the water clear so you can see what’s beneath you from the boat. Although it is
still a bit windy it is noticeably calmer than the eastern side of the
peninsula due to the small hill range that runs like a spine down the headland.
At the test snorkel site everyone is comfortable with
their equipment so back on board via either an elegant pull up and swivel into
a seating position on the marlin board (a wooden platform the width of the boat
about 2ft deep) or a slightly less elegant seal like flop onto the board
flapping to hold onto anything with James the deckhand grabbing you to pull you
on board.
From there we
motor out through and beyond the back of the outer reef as the ten or so
license boats search for the elusive whale sharks. At this point it could be
30/60/90minutes till we are next back in the water. Most of the boats have 20
passengers, ours 10 restrictions (whale shark related not COVID related)
mean only 10 people are allowed in the water at any one time near one given
whale shark. Boats with 20 therefore have to take turns amongst those on board
while our smaller size means all can be in the water anytime every time. It
also means our day is shorter (8am to 3.30, rather than 7.30 – 4.15) which
worked better with the kids left onshore. The first 8 boats have all jetted off
south ahead of us, but by the time we and one last boat pass the outer reef the
spotter plane (for which each boat chips in $300/hr everyday) is out and about
and we end up relatively quickly honing in on a spotted whale shark close to
the lagoon. Its action stations with wetsuits on, flippers on, goggles defogged
and on. 6 people sit on the marlin board ready to slide in with the final 4 following
straight after.
Before we know it,
we are all in the water with a promised whale shark approaching. We line up as
if to watch the queen pass by and with a final shout of ‘faces in’ we duck
under the surface to see a huge (well at least bigger than anything I have ever
seen that close in the water) whale shark nonchalantly approaching and with a
barely perceptible weave of its tail swim alongside and then passed us. It’s
now a scramble for half of the group to get to the other side of the whale shark
and we are able to swim alongside it (no further forwards than the large
pectoral fin) for 5-10 minutes as it gently wends its way forwards. With mouth
open it’s scooping krill and plankton from the water disposing of the excess
water out of the five gills either side. Unlike a whale it doesn’t need to
surface for air so it’s only near the surface for feeding our whale shark has
the typical ridges along its back and is marked by white spots of varying
brightness along its side. At the back its tail has a small chunk missing
presumably from an encounter with a shark.
They are mostly
males in this region, typically 5-7m, but can grow up to 14m. Ours it at the
larger end of the typical scale and combined with its breadth makes for an
inspiring sight. As we all pause for breath and wait to be collected by our
boat the other boat with us has their customers in the water ready to take up
where we left off.
Although the whale shark is moving slowly and even
though we have flippers on it is still an effort to keep pace so we and the
other boat take turns leap frogging each other and we end up with four swims
with the same whale shark before on the fourth swim he changes his angles and
drifts down into the darkness of the deep.
After the
excitement doing what we had all come to achieve (and ahead of time as far as
the boat crew were concerned) we were able to follow a pod of humpback whales
as they make their epic migration north to warmer waters to give birth. Whilst
there are around 600 whale sharks coming here each year there are expected to
be 60,000 humpback whales. Similar to other whale watching cruises we have been
on there is a lot of time between each breath they take when they plunge under
water and you are left watching out for where they may reappear. These ones are
heading north but when heading south with their pups the young ones are much
livelier with breaches out of the water but currently it’s more sedate refined
with the occasional tail flipping out of the water before they plunge
underwater.
Still ahead of
time – the other boats are all out of view beyond the south horizon we amble
back into the lagoon for lunch and then a final swim, this time dropped by some
reef where the current pushes us along. As well as the eclectic collection of
marine life amongst the coral that appears to sprout up and out
of the sand 3m below us we find a large stingray on the seabed and a loggerhead
turtle munching away on
something attached to the coral.
By 14:30 we’re heading back to the mooring, back on
the tender, farewelling the crew, back in the minibus to Exmouth and back to
our campsite where Deb has Sienna and Seb just across the road at the aquarium
and library. Thankfully the kids are excited to see us despite their own fun
adventures of trips out for ice-cream and TV watching, and in Seb’s case,
sitting in an old bus.
After showers and
freshening up we walk 15 minutes to Whalebone Brewery on the edge of Exmouth
where the kids play in a large sandpit filled with toy dump trucks. We enjoy a
prawn pizza washed down with a couple of freshly brewed beers. Background music
is provided by travelling musician with husky Jonny Cash tunes with the almost
full moon behind him as the sun drops. As ever, 9pm isn’t even breached before
we’re all asleep.