Day 58 – Cape Range National Park – Travelling the Big Island

8 August 2019

Big day today! Today was the day that Dad and I headed out to try and find a whale shark to swim with. Both Mum and Bill had elected to stay on land, and given the conditions of the morning, I’m sure they gave themselves a pat on the back for making that decision. The wind had been up all night, meaning another poor nights sleep and it was a windy and cool morning.

Bill drove us the 30 or so km to the boat ramp, and then continued on into Exmouth to have a look around and get a good coffee (or a few coffees given the rough nights sleep).

Dad and I boarded the tender, and then onto the larger vessel that we were to spend the day on. I headed straight to the coffee stand and made us a couple of Nescafes. They got us organised with our snorkelling gear and then some safety and instructional talks on what to do and not do when swimming with the mega fauna. The spotter planes were up in the air scouring the reef for a whale shark. Normally the day would start with a snorkel in the lagoon – the body of water between the beach and the outer reef, however because it was so choppy, they took us out behind the reef where conditions were a bit better. The snorkelling was disappointing as the reef was quite deep, and so it was difficult to make out much. They say that the first snorkel is for us to try out the gear, however I suspect it is actually about the guides watching us in the water to see if we are capable. First snorkel over and it was bloody cold in wet gear back on the boat. We dried off a bit, and them they saw a couple of humpbacks that were suitable to swim with! It was amazing. Absolutely incredible. We were in the water looking down and then suddenly these two huge whales swam underneath us. An absolute guess is that they were maybe 6 metres below us. It was incredible. They were gone in a flash though and time to jump back on the boat. Then as soon as we were back on, they told us that a whale shark had been sighted and we were off. It was the only one spotted so far for the day, so all the tour boats had converged around it. Turns out it was the first one to be spotted in 6 days, so we were extremely lucky. Dad and I were in the first group from our boat in the water. It was a bit confusing with the guide telling us to go right, then left, then look down and bam – the whale shark swam toward us! We were to stay 3 metres from it however we couldn’t back away quickly enough and it swam within about a metre of us. It was quite small and it turns out, a juvenile. However it was still pretty cool. It was all over so quickly though. We only got the one chance to swim with it, although I am extremely grateful for that.

Due to the poor conditions, the skipper decided to call a close to the day early. We headed back in to the lagoon where we moored and had a delicious lunch, and then we went on a cruise through the lagoon which was very pleasant. The wind died down, the sun was out and they brought out cake. Winning.

We were back on land by just after 2 pm. Bill picked us up from the boat ramp and we headed back to camp briefly, and then with the day being so lovely, back to Turquoise Bay for another snorkel. Bill had enjoyed the few hours he had to himself in Exmouth (his first solo time in almost 8 weeks!)