We set our alarms for 6:30am so we could be up and ready to be out at the boat ramp before 8am. Happily, “R” woke up feeling much better this morning, perhaps thanks to the Phenergan we dosed him up with last night!! With everyone feeling excited, we got dressed, had brekky and jumped in the car for the ~30min drive to Tantabiddi Boat Ramp.
We met up with our tour group (Kings Ningaloo Reef) and jumped on our tender boat across to the big boat for the day, the Magellan. The boat was really nice and we all found a spot to sit on the back deck where we were promptly issued with wetsuits, snorkelling gear and flippers. Whilst we got into our gear, we were given a safety brief and instructions for the day. There were muffins, pancakes and chips with dip to snack on as we set out across the reef.
Our first stop was inside the reef where we got to go for a snorkel. It was really cool and we saw loads of fish and other interesting marine life. “G” and “L” buddied up for the day as did “A” and “R”. After quite a long time snorkelling the reef, we jumped back on the boat and sailed around waiting for the spotter plane to direct us to a whale shark.
Our skipper had opted to stay “south” as he had luck there yesterday with the whale sharks. Only one other boat also stayed “south” as the rest headed “north”. After about half an hour or so, the spotter planes reported a sighting of a whale shark “north” which about 9 boats were headed toward so our skipper decided to hang out and wait a bit longer to see if anything could be spotted “south”. Not too much longer later, we hit full gear on the boat and were positively zooming along – the spotter plane had seen 3 whale sharks about 30mins further south from where we were so we were off!! Only 1 other boat was following us quite some distance behind. We also heard at this point that the whale shark in the north had taken a dive so all the boats up there weren’t having any luck and were headed our way down south.
Thankfully, we arrived at 2 whale sharks before anyone else and got to have 6 swims with them!!!!!! Swimming with the whale sharks is incredibly exhausting so the boys went for the first two swims, saw the whale shark and then called it quits as they were exhausted. “G” went for every swim whilst “A” sat out for 2 swims to catch her breath. The sight of the whale sharks were incredible. The first whale shark was a “smaller” ~5m one whilst the second was around 8m. They are such majestic calm creatures but boy do they move fast! The sheer size of them, their mouths and their gills are a real sight to behold.
Back on the boat and we were taken to the back reef for another snorkel but we were too exhausted to go back in. Once everyone was back on board, we changed into dry clothes and then enjoyed a lunch of chicken and salad rolls, salads and rice with vegetarian curry. The food was delicious. It took quite a long time to sail back to the boat ramp but the time was enjoyed watching more whales than “G” or “A” have ever seen in their lives along with a manta ray, flying fish and loads of jellyfish.
Safely back on dry land, we were very grateful to have not had anyone be seasick on the boat – first time ever for “R”! We were covered in salt, sunburnt and absolutely exhausted from an incredible day.
On the way back into Exmouth, we stopped at the Jurabi Turtle centre which was quite informative about the turtles.
Then we visited the Vlamingh Head Lighthouse to admire the incredible views of the Cape. The warning signs, along with the information given to us on the boat from the skipper, about the dangers of the mosquitoes at the moment, meant we didn’t admire the sights for too long! Apparently the mosquitoes are really bad at the moment and the ones that breed in the salt marshes are the worst, huge and carry the nasty stuff (Dengue Fever etc).
As we headed back into town, we saw a Mr Whippy van so excitedly pulled over. Turns out, it was the biggest let down of the day. There was indeed no soft serve icecream and the woman running the van was only on her second day and clearly had no idea what she was doing. Nonetheless, we somehow managed to walk away with a scoop of icecream with some topping each which was welcomed after a hot day in the sun.
Back in our cabin, we relaxed for the rest of the day as everyone was absolutely stuffed. We cooked some pasta for dinner and chilled out in front of the TV before calling it a night.