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TRAVEL BLOG ENTRY
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My main reason for staying in Exmouth was to see the biggest fish in the ocean, the whale shark. I had pre-booked a tour (which is quite expensive due to the use of spotter airplanes to help the boats locate these rare and fast-swimming creatures) and was incredibly excited. This was actually one of my main reasons for coming to the west coast of Australia. The coral spawns, and gives off eggs and sperms during the full moon in March, leading to a proliferation of plankton, which is whale shark food. So they arrive in early April and stick around until June. However, sightings were still not guaranteed on any given day, I had about a 50/50 chance. But the tour operators give you a second chance to go out if you don't see a whale shark on your first trip.
Unfortunately, the morning of my tour, the rep from the operator arrived to tell me the trip had been cancelled! I was devastated, as it meant changing bus/hostel and even plane bookings later on, but I knew I would regret it if I didn't see what I came to see. Fortunately I had met people at our hostel who had rented a car and were doing a day of snorkelling in some of the more quiet sites along the fabulous Cape Range peninsula. So, I went along with Veronika, Ralph and Helen and we had a fantastic day. The snorkelling here is better than some of the diving I have done in the Similans in Thailand and in the Caribbean. I saw reef sharks and sting rays on almost every dive, an incredible variety of fish and coral, and on our last site, called the Oyster Stacks, we finally saw a sea turtle, and swam along with it for about 5 minutes. Then we finished off our great day with a marinated kangaroo barbecue, which I'm developing quite a taste for! I know it may seem strange to eat something so amazing as a kangaroo, but once you see how plentiful they are in this country, and discover how tasty,tender and lean the meat is (when cooked medium rare), any hesitation goes away (at least for an omnivore like me).
So, the next day my whale shark trip was on. We did lots of snorkelling while waiting for the planes to radio in their find. Finally at 2 pm, the race began, with all the boats going at full speed toward where the whale shark was spotted, while the plane continued to circle above, following its course. Although we were one of the last boats to arrive, the shark decided to approach our boat first, so we had the opportunity to go in first (there are strict rules about contact and only 10 swimmers plus the guide can swim with the whale shark at any given time). It was quite a panic to get our fins and masks on, and of course I forgot my underwater camera. But that allowed me to concentrate completely on the experience of being beside such a gentle and beautiful giant fo the sea. At first he came straight toward me, which made my heart rate go up a bit I"ll admit, then he swam right by, waving his tail side-to-side just like all sharks, and turned around for a second pass. It was only 90 seconds that we were allowed that first encounter, but I tell you, time stood still for me. It was awe-inspiring. And he was only a baby! Our guides estimated he was an immature male, about 4.5 metres. We did get a second chance to jump in with the shark, but this time he was swimming faster, the waves were choppier, I didn't get in the water fast enough and all I saw were the other snorkeller's fins in the water. Many of us only got to see the shark on one of the two opportunities, but we all agreed it was an experience of a lifetime. Check out www.whaleshark.org for more info on these amazing creatures.
I met a lovely German girl Kirstin on the boat, as well as a couple of Australian blokes, engineers from one of the mines in northwest Australia. We decided to celebrate our amazing day by watching a local footie game (for those of you who don't know this is Australian Rules football, sort of a cross between soccer and rugby), where the Exmouth Eagles walloped their opponents. It was a great time, involving chili dogs, a presentation award afterwards, some more pool playing. I got chastized for drinking Emu Bitter, which I was taken with mostly for the name, but was told I was both far too old and far too young to be drinking such low-brow beer (it's also one of the cheaper Aussie beers), so I had to try some others, perhaps a few too many...
The next day was spent lazing about, doing laundry and preparing for the next adventure, heading back on the Easyriders bus to go into the outback for 3 days. But at least I had another pleasant surprise. I found out the driver was going to be my favourite Bald Pete, so I knew at least we'd have good music and good times...
previous travel blog entry
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