Last nights stars were phenomenal! Ariane and I stuck our heads out of the tents for an hour or so before we headed to sleep because they really were amazing! Once you leave the hustle bustle of any town/city behind Australia delights you with this view of all views! If only you could capture it on an average camera!
Today was the day of the whale sharks! The long awaited whale sharks!! I remember my travel agent first mentioning this over a year ago when I began to book my trips and I felt nervous at the thought of swimming with a whale shark, to be honest at that stage I don’t think I even really knew what a whale shark was! Then about a month ago my friend Diane also got to swim with them and her excitement rubbed off on me. Today was my turn and despite a hell of a day – the whale sharks did not disappoint!
The reason why I say it was a hell of a day is because it seemed that everything that could go wrong did go wrong! To begin with we found out yesterday that the trip might not even go ahead due to the weather however we were told it was going to ahead and the company Kings would pick us up at 8 from our campsite at Yardie Creek. An hour later and they still hadn’t arrived – our tour guide phoned to find out they were running late but it turns out they had actually canceled the trip (but not even told us) and then put it back on again at the last minute. Not a great start to the day.
We got on board and headed out in search of the whale shark with no luck for a good couple of hours. The waters were extremely choppy and everyone started to feel very sick – myself included…again! After a couple hours we headed over to a snorkel site to get everyone off the boat and in the water momentarily in an attempt to stop the sea sickness however I must say I was extremely disappointed with the site as there was almost nothing to even see!!
Luckily the call then came through that the whale shark had been spotted and we were heading over to find it. People began to feel sicker and sicker again as we waited for the whale shark to come up from yet another dive down. I’m told these creatures can dive down to almost 1km so we had not choice but to wait and see if it decided to return to the surface. We were in luck for a number of minutes and it was our turn to dive in. Kings rushed everyone in the water as quick as possible before the whale shark dived down again however it felt more as if it was of a money grabbing scheme (you pay $100 extra if you get to snorkel with the whale shark) as opposed to them trying to get you to have a great experience. I’d say we were in the water for less than 5 minutes until we were pulled out and another company got the chance to make some more money.
That being said the experience itself was amazing to say the least. The whale sharks aren’t actually a whale but they are the largest fish in the ocean and they are beyond astonishing! So calm and majestic as they swim around the ocean like the own the place. The whale shark we got to swim with was tagged for research and I believe they said it was a female.
The experience itself was phenomenal! We were unlucky with the weather and at this time of year there are less whale sharks around however I would not recommend Kings to anyone. Ever. The staff were friendly enough but it seemed more of an act if I’m honest, just a way to get more money out of you.
They were also extremely sneaky with their photography from the day. They say if you purchase a set of photos from the day they will personalise it to include photos of you and only you – I think this is obviously to stop you from purchasing one as a group and all paying a fraction of the price each. Again another money making scheme on their behalf. Ariane and I did a deal with the photographer for both of our photographs however when we actually received the usb later there wasn’t even a single photo from our group swimming with the whale shark!!! Instead there were lots of other pictures of everyone else from the day! Obviously not personalised!!
So yes all I can say from this day is 100% swim with the whale sharks if you get a chance – but 100% don’t go with Kings!!
Tonight we are back for another night camping at Yardie Creek, just outside of Exmouth before heading off to Karijini National Park tomorrow morning!
eyes abroad 