My Ningaloo Reef Experience
This was my first trip to Western Australia. It's so far away from where I live, there is a time difference of 2 hours!!! *LOL* Ningaloo reef is located about 1100 km north of Perth.
The main reason for my trip to WA was to swim with the Whale Sharks at Ningaloo Reef. It was only a day outing, shared with 16 other people. We were divided into two groups so that there weren't too many people in the water with the whale shark at any one time. I saw 3 whale sharks, the first two were rather small (about 3 or 4 metres long) and they didn't stay on top of the water for very long. The third one stayed up near the surface for nearly an hour. This one was about 6-8 metres long. Considering whale sharks can grow to about 18 metres, it was only a small one. But I'm not complaining!!!!!!! And I wasn't worried about being a snack for the shark either. They are filter feeders. They filter huge volumes of water through their gills and feed on the plankton and krill in the water.
Well, here's proof that I was really swimming in the water with the Whale Sharks! Click on the picture if you want to see more photos of whale sharks.
Of course I saw more than just Whale Sharks at Ningaloo Reef. Infact, the reef absolutely teems with marine life. Here are some more pics of what I saw at Ningaloo.
Manta Rays are harmless filter feeders. They did somersaults (or barrel rolls) underneath us as we floated on the water (snorkelling) and looking down at these fascinating fish.
I saw lots of these sting rays while snorkelling.
The giant clams were very colourful. They were all colours including blue, green, gold, brown, and a range of colours inbetween.
Here are a couple of pics I took while SCUBA diving on the reef. The turtle was very inquisitive and gave my buddy and I a good once over.
Here's a selection of fish from Ningaloo reef.
We didn't just admire the fish under water either....we admired them above water too!!
Here's Danielle with one of the fish caught on our day out deep sea fishing.
To see more photos, click on the links below:
