24. Swimming with Whale Sharks at Ningaloo Reef.

Swimming with the world's biggest fish in Australia's largest fringing reef out from Exmouth, Western Australia was astounding.  The area is a popular holiday destination for Whale Sharks to relax and make best of the opportunity of swimming with inquisitive snorkelling humans.
Whale Sharks can grow up to 18m.  The Ningaloo Whale Sharks are generally six to eleven metres in length. The ones we swam with were estimated at 9m long.

A majestic, gentle, beautiful behemoth.  Note the comparative size of the swimmers.
We were accompanied by a professional photographer for the underwater activity.
Due to the marine environment, a water mark is seen on all her photos. 

But first the background news.
Ningaloo Reef is Australia's largest fringing coral reef (as opposed our eastern Barrier Reef which extends way out from land between 15 and 150kms), is one of the healthiest and most accessible reefs in the world, and is one of only two coral reefs on the western side of a continent.
Also due to being located off a desert, less runoff means clearer water than most coral reefs.  The reef runs for 260kms, extends out only a short distance from shore and is generally less than 2kms out, and has an average depth of less than 5m.

The Ningaloo Fringing Reef complete with photo bombing whale. 

Our team for the day included a boat, spotter plane, back-up crew, aquatic camera lady, and lots of initial courage to slip into the unknown full of creatures far bigger and more adept at swimming than us.

Our boat.
Ideal for speed and maneuverability, plus facility to offload numerous swimmers at once.
 Emergency exits can be found all around on both decks. 

Heading out in search of the Whale Sharks.
Being fish, they are harder to find than whales, as they don't come to the surface to breathe. 

Our photographer
It was thought our camera sealed in a Glad sandwich bag would not be up to the job. 

The back-up pickup rubber duck followed our every move but was not required. 

Blue and black are trendy these days. 

Preparation for disembarkation once the "go go go" signal is given.

Whale Sharks are filter feeders and cruise with mouths open feeding on plankton, including krill and copepods. They are incredibly graceful, docile, beautiful giants gliding through the oceans. They are also more difficult to follow than whales, as being fish, they don't need to surface as whales do to breathe. Hence the spotter planes to find their great form from above.

A practice snorkel in the coral reefs followed later by a drift snorkel over reefs showed all sorts of corals, coloured fish and rays.

Fish of all sizes.  From the smallest to the largest. 

Coral of assorted colours and types.
Swimming style exhibited here by the bubbles of the swimmer is so different to a Whale Shark's effortless grace.  

Carrol and Don enjoying weightlessness.
H2O is the way to go!

Spotter planes circled overhead in search of the graceful slow moving vacuum cleaners of the ocean. Once spotted, they would direct the boat in front of the direction of travel of the Whale Sharks, having groups of up to 10 swimmers in the water at any time, waiting to be joined by the whale shark. They seemed totally unfazed by the swimmers in the water.
Initial fear of such a massive creature swimming in such close proximity was soon replaced with an almost surreal feeling taking over.

Without eyes in the sky, the task of  finding the Whale Sharks for our offloading in front of their line of travel would have been so much more difficult. 

Carrol and Don both swam together for the first encounter, but unfortunately missed getting any photo coverage by the photographer.
On a subsequent swim with another whale shark the professional photographer with the tour boat took the following shots:

Out of the gloom. 

Denizens of the deep showdown!
Don graciously back pedalling to give way.  

All good!
Not viewed as krill. 

Note the comparative size to Don swimming about 3m this side of the Whale Shark.
We are going to need a bigger gaff as well as a bigger boat. 

Juvenile males enjoying swimming together.  

Impressive long slow movement of the tail for him, requiring a quick swim with flippers for us to try to keep pace.

Time to drop into the depths. 

All in all, we were astounded at the grace and serenity of these brilliant placid fish.
Dolphins and turtles also joined our voyage of discovery.

Turtles evidently removing barnacles from his and her underbellies in the lead up to egg laying. 

Dolphins riding the pressure waves at the bow as we headed out in our quest.  

The lack of runoff from the desert was the main reason for the exceptional clarity of the water. 

To finish off our day, we were dropped off to drift snorkel over a reef while the boat skirted around in deeper water before picking us up.
Roll calls were completed after every swim. 

We carried on further south a few days later to Coral Bay, also part of the Ningaloo Reef for more land based drift snorkelling plus the opportunity of something equally majestic and of incredible size.
Gigantic Manta Rays with a wing span of 4m.  More next blog.

Trusting all is well.
Regards, Don and Carrol.

23. Red Dust of the Pilbara to Coral Reefs at Ningaloo.

It has been quite a while since the last blog due to large amounts of time off grid, even isolated from radio and television, along with much snorkelling in brilliant coral reefs and swimming with the world's largest fish and rays. This blog is the lead up to that.

The 600kms drive from Iron Ore country to the Largest Fringing Coral Reef in Australia was full of beauty at every turn.  Despite there being few turns, the beauty was still there even along the straights.  Continuous stops were necessary to take in the scenery.

Carrol sensed Don was hiding with the camera behind some flowers, but wasn't sure exactly where. 

Caution for the next 230kms.
However the pluses were no intersections, traffic lights, pedestrians, school zones or trams. 

Sleeping giant slugs.

Hardy living.
Looking like a coloured ice crystal 

Not all highways are designated airstrips.
We had heard about the Nullabor plane in WA and thought it might land here. 

UFO sightings have been mentioned by several folk in WA and those who have visited the area over the years.
We perhaps had our close encounter just outside Paraburdoo.

Paraburdoo equivalent of Roswell.  New Mexico 1947

Fantastic art blending in so well with the environment. 

The workmanship was stunning. 

Paraburdoo is a mining town very reminiscent of the snowy mountain scheme towns of the 1960s. The most unusual part of the town was the solution for naughty children outside a playground.
.

Punishment rock for misbehaving children located outside a Paraburdoo play area. 

As an alternative to caravan parks, cattle stations such as Bullara Station are terrific; generally requiring a drive off the main road on dirt roads of varying conditions for several kilometres, but well worth the corrugations and dust.  Bullara was one such station, where we stayed without power and water, but had the use of some quaint amenities, with the hot water for the showers warmed by a donkey (wood fuelled).

Not your average amenities block.
In emergencies, the bark from the walls can be used as toilet paper. 

Native Lava Trees

There is a hole in the bucket dear Liza, dear Liza. 

The Donkey

Bullara gave us the opportunity to view clouds in months; along with the first sound of rain on the roof since Roma in QLD on 13th April.  There was only enough rain to leave a pattern on the dust.
There was also the cute little orphan Kangaroo named Jacqui Roo.

Orphaned Jacqui Roo nodding off.

Custom designer pouch.

Bottle Tree
A very distant relation to the Bottle Trees we saw in QLD. 

An Australian Bustard, Australia's heaviest flying bird joined us to show how flexible he was.

The look given when called a Bustard.

Enjoying our company and the shade of the van. 

Bustards freeze and look skyward when feeling threatened.
This is the opposite to some of their distant cousins who simply bury their head in the sand. 

Rocks are not always comfortable to perch upon.

Chewing the cud over the events of the day.  

Bronzed Aussies

First clouds in five months. 

Morning has broken. 

The Harold Holt American Aerial Base on North West Cape was commissioned in 1967, just 3 months before the disappearance of Harold.  It can provide communications to submarines around the world through a combination of exceptionally low frequency, incredibly high aerials, and using the ground as a sounding board.  Fascinating reading to follow up.
There was no mention of a connection between Harold Holt and Russian or Chinese submarines.

Five story high building dwarfed at base. 

Base jumper's dream from Tower Zero. 

The height of the towers was hard to comprehend due to lack of surrounding structures. 

For those technically minded. 

A very early morning was required for the drive up to a lookout for dawn breaking over the Shothole Canyon in the Cape Range National Park.
Upon arrival at the lookout we realised we were not alone in our universe.

Having crashed their UFO at Paraburdoo as noted earlier, aliens were also present for the dawn viewing and had progressed from flying saucers. 

Shothole Canyon was named from the scared landscape due to explosive seismographic testing in the 1950s. 

Patiently waiting for the sun. 

Yodelling competition.
Move away from the edge Carrol!!

Colours coming to life. 

The Shothole Canyon lookout walk took us in a loop of about 8kms around the area with views down the canyon.  It always amazes us how few people get out and enjoy the great outdoors.

Our track disappearing over the hill.
In four hours of trekking through the area, the only form of life we saw was one kangaroo.
The guide posts were all 38mm square and varied between steel, plastic and timber. 

The canyon was formed when possibly the rainfall was somewhat higher than it is today. 

Spinifex designed for harsh living. 

An inquisitive look of wonder as to why we were in his territory. 

Dense foliage sometimes impeded our progress.  

Scarred landscape. 

Australian wild life was in more of an abundance at Cape Range, featuring some Aussie icons.

The emus of Cape Range are the healthiest we have seen.
Beautiful plumage!!

These large birds often chuckle as they emus themselves.

Euros are the resident smaller, stocky Kangaroo found in most parts of Western Australia and grow to about 1.2m high.
The Euro is used as a currency in some parts of the world.
The Euro on the right is an Aussie buck, which currently trades at 0.62 Euro.  Hence his female mate on average must be worth far more. 

What big ears you have!

In time of famine, Dingoes were possibly seen as Dinner on the Go by their early masters. 

The wreck of The SS Mildura in 1907 saw the loss of many cattle, however now provides a home for an abundance of fish wanting a break from coral.
The white caps give an indication of the state we are in: WA...Windy Always

 Like sand through an hour glass, the sands of Cape Range are on the move, with some paths soon to disappear altogether.

Fence posts and ropes being challenged by sand. 

The sand is winning the battle.
Taller fence posts are required. 

Mandu Mandu Gorge walk should have been an easy walk of a few kilometres, however was hampered, or hammered by very strong winds, bad enough on the canyon, however very difficult to deal with on climbing out of the gorge and back along the top for the return.
We cut short our stay at Cape Range, along with many others due to the buffeting of the wind.

Beautiful rocky base to the gorge. 

Climbing up and out, looking out to sea. 

The rock base extends all the way across the coastal plain to the beach. 

At many of the National Park and Council free camp grounds, Volunteer Camp Hosts set up home for up to three months, and do an exceptional job in making sure all campers know where to camp and what to do and see.
An informal Happy Hour is often held generally late in the day to see the sunset and discuss the events of the day, plans for the next day, and since all are travelling different directions, the best chance to learn where we should aim for next.

Happy Hour at Cape Range National Park; waiting for the sun to sizzle into the Indian Ocean. 

The snorkelling in the Ningaloo Reef was beyond our wildest dreams, however we were somewhat restricted in the number of times we entered the water due to the strong winds and tides against us.
This is made up for in the next blog currently being compiled and features our swimming with Whale Sharks, turtles, sharks, and colourful fish, all with a backdrop of giant coral. All spellbinding!!

Until next Blog, happy and safe travelling.

Don and Carrol.