A whale of a time - Ningaloo Reef

Ningaloo Reef 12 April to 26 April (or thereabouts)

We had a fortnight on the Ningaloo Reef and we could easily spend longer there.  Snorkelling, fishing, snorkelling, walking, snorkelling and talking was a pretty good summation of our fortnight.  We saw whale sharks, turtles, giant fish, pretty fish, coral reefs, reef sharks, sea stars and Simon even saw that elusive sea snake!  Simon and I swam with a reef shark, much to Hugo’s disappointment (he loves sharks).

The huge highlight was the swim with whale sharks.  The weather was ideal, no swell, low winds, beautiful and warm water.  We saw 4 whale sharks and swam with three. They are big and beautiful and graceful. They swim towards you out of the deep blue and you see their spots first and it is just so exciting!  The kids just astounded us by snorkelling every chance they got – I reckon they might’ve jumped in the water 10 times during the day – no mean feat given we were in 60 metres of water!  There were older kids on the boat who sat out to rest but not our kids – you couldn’t keep them away from these enormous fish.

Isobel swam with Esther the guide/spotter responsible for our group of 10. Hugo swam independently with an inflatable noodle and even Otto was swept away by the excitement of it all and donned a snorkel and mask and jumped in. Unfortunately I was rushed (when the whale shark is near there’s not much time to get prepared to jump) and jumped in with him rather than leaving him on the marlin board and then taking him from there…so as soon as we jumped in he wanted to get straight back out of the water!  We would have to swim over to the zodiac to get us as the big boat has to move away from the on-coming whale shark. As it happened, that whale shark dived and no-one got a chance to see it.  But Otto couldn’t be persuaded to try it again. He got some great views of ‘Ginormous Jack’ though as they swim close to the surface.

The day was just a dream come true not only for Hugo but for Simon and I.  To see our son realizing a long-held dream and enjoying it was so fulfilling and satisfying for us – we’re so proud of him!  He’s been saving for 18 months to swim with whale sharks and he was so determined and committed.  He loved the morning and afternoon snorkel and practiced his duck diving and even tried to dive down to do a ‘swim through’.  Well done Hugo – you’re an awesome individual!

And our Isobel is so full of surprises. I didn’t think she’d do it as she’d been reluctant to swim on the reef in the days prior.  But we couldn’t hold her back and the only swim she missed was the first one while we figured it all out and everyone got rid of the collywobbles. She loved it and did so well swimming in 60 metres of water!  She enjoyed jumping off the boat and swimming around during the morning and afternoon reef swims and we’ve got some great footage of her on the DVD we bought from the day snorkelling her little heart out!  What an amazing 6 year old we have – also full of adventure and determination.

Our favourite time of the day at Tulki was sundowners when we’d join Mary and Rob the camp hosts and other campers. The kids just adored Mary and Rob, and Otto grew very attached to “Mary, Mary, Mary!”.  Rob started to make a habit most mornings of coming by to have a chat with us and ended up spending an afternoon with us teaching Simon and Hugo fishing knots and tips.

And we also got to hang out with Chris and Denise, surrogate grandparents for a few days!!  They are the grandparents of my cousin’s children and Denise said to Otto one night that he could call her Denise or Granna. He thought for a moment and then chose Granna. So cute.  It was lovely to get to know them and to spend time with someone who we had an extra connection with (we all knew/related to the same people) rather than just sharing travelling tales. Denise was also a champion as she bought us 3 towels from Carnavon after we left nearly ALL of our towels on the clothes line at the caravan park there! (We’ve since realized we probably left half a load of washing in the washing machine too).

We loved Cape Range National Park and the Ningaloo Reef and I wouldn’t mind betting we’ll be back for a family holiday again (although next time we might just fly into Exmouth!).