Around Oz with the Munchkins: Snorkeling the Turquoise Bay drift, fishing for sharks, happy hour on the beach and swimming with the whalesharks

Finally we arrived in Exmouth, excited to finally be at the place where we could swim with whalesharks. Fortunately someone wise had advised us to book a campsite in the national park – most unlike us to book ahead but necessary at Cape Range which is busy at the best of times and full in school holidays. Before heading into the national park, we stocked up in the supermarket and went to the visitors centre for info on the whalesharks. Based upon advice from the visitors centre, we went to Whaleshark ‘n’ Dive to book our incredibly expensive but much anticipated day on the whaleshark boat. We booked for all four of us and then purchased and hired snorkeling equipment for all of us. We had five days to get the kids used to snorkeling before they would be thrown overboard to fend for themselves alongside a whaleshark…

We set up camp at Kurrajong camspite – a fairly flat and shadeless spot but right on a beautiful beach in the national park. We were welcomed by perhaps the most enthusiastic camp hosts ever (WA has a great system in many national parks which involves volunteers who do month-long stints looking after the campsites and visitors – thus allowing rangers to focus on conservation-based activities instead of listening to tourist complaints and cleaning toilets). We discovered that the rather social bunch at the campsite joined together for happy hour on the beach each night – sipping beers or cordial, eating the catch of the day, and watching the sunset. We balked at the thought of forced chit chat with strangers on the first night, but soon warmed to the idea and enjoyed their company the subsequent evenings – particularly as one couple had been busy catching sharks and served them up in delicious seasoned bite-sized pieces to all happy hour attendees.

Next day we woke to a dreadful wind. It took Kate approximately 1 hour to make her coffee due to the tussle between the wind and the gas flame. NOT a good start to the day. Kate and Bill struggled to put up the second room in the wind – in order to give us some shelter and prevent any further caffeine disasters. Finally we set off for Turquoise Bay – a well-known snorkeling spot with a drift (the current takes you gently over the reef with almost zero effort required from snorkeler) to the left and a sheltered bay to the right. We headed for the bay first in order to get the kids used to their snorkeling equipment. However in our panic to have the kids whaleshark ready we pushed Sash too hard and he decided that he didn’t ever want to snorkel or even enter the coldish water. Zara on the other hand was snorkeling like a pro in no time.

Inspired by our neighbours’ shark-catching prowess, Bill hit the beaches in the evening in order to haul in a big one. Although the shark wrestling was not so successful, he did discover that when the sun disappeared hundreds of phosphorescence came floating onto the beach. Hence nightly visits to the beach with the kids to cup our hands around the little glowing bits and hold them up in amazement.

We spent our days snorkeling, swimming and generally having a good time. Alas, Sash continued to refuse to enter the water – although he did have fun paddling around the edge and burying his shoes for us to find. The weather was nice and sunny and finally the wind died down which made it much more pleasant. We loved snorkeling the Oyster Stacks site and did a lovely walk alongside Yardi Creek where we spotted yellow footed rock wallabies zipping up and down the steep gorge walls.

At the campsite we met a friendly family from Melbourne – Katherine and Bruce and their four awesome kids Josh, Emily, Ollie and Abby. Ollie and Abby are Zara and Sash’s ages. The kids had a ball running around the dunes and hitting each other with swimming noodles. Bill and Bruce decided to join forces in order to catch those elusive sharks – still no luck but lots of fun had in the process.

We were sorry to pack up and leave Cape Range – a lovely spot. But we were excited to head into Exmouth for our whaleshark experience. Early next morning we were out on the boat with about 15 others and a very friendly and entertaining crew. They told us a lot about whalesharks and then kitted us up with snorkeling gear. After a while we were able to plop off the boat to snorkel over the reef in order to get used to our gear. And then began the wait for the spotter plain to spot a whaleshark somewhere outside the reef. We had morning tea, lunch, saw lots of whales and a hammerhead shark. Still waiting waiting. The kids skippered the boat, watched a movie, played with some other kids. And just when it looked like the day was going to be an enjoyable anticlimax, we had action. We were all crowded on the front of the boat watching a group of humbacks breaching not far from the boat when the crew started yelling ‘whaleshark, whaleshark’. We jumped into our gear and stood shivering at the back of the boat. It was all very adrenalin fueled. Soon enough Bill, Kate and Zara were in the warm water for our first glimpse of these incredible animals. We basically jumped into the water and awaited instructions from the crew member, then when the shark appears from the dark, we turned and snorkeled alongside it, keeping at least 3 metres from at as per DEC regulations. We managed to get in with the shark 5 or 6 times – and each time it got better as we learnt how to avoid getting stuck behind other people’s flippers and how to swim fast enough alongside the shark to get a good view. Not a lot is known about whalesharks and although they appear apparently unperturbed by the group of people swimming frantically alongside them, the swimming is closely regulated in order to protect the sharks from harm. However we have a bit of a hunch that swimming with whalesharks may not be allowed in the future. It was truly an incredible experience – a crazy pumped up adrenalin rush before and after the swims as we rushed around the boat and jumped in and out of the water –but as soon as you disappear into the silence under the water and watch the enormous creature gliding towards you out of the gloom, it really is an incredibly peaceful and calm experience.