Team 1: Out with the Sharks!

Today is the first day all the Earthwatch volunteers and Brad went out to the waters for our first whale shark sighting. Everyone was really excited, and we woke up bright and early to start our day. At 7 in the morning, the team walked to meet the dive operators at the Exmouth Dive Centre. The drive out to the reef was about 45 minutes.

We started the day out in the waters with a bit of snorkeling to get everyone familiarised with snorkeling equipment, and then, the chase for the whale sharks begins!! As whale sharks are wild animals, no one knows when they will surface and for how long. Hence, once a plane spots one, the boat will rush to the spot near the whale shark and the dive operators rush everyone into the water in groups of tens with shouts of "GO GO GO", which can get a bit stressful.

The first time I saw a whale shark, it was AWESOME!!! I first heard Tanya squeal in delight at the sight of the big fish, before I caught sight of it. However, the first shark we saw was swimming quite deep in the waters, and it dived after a while.
The second shark that we saw was in shallower waters. The first time I saw how close it was, it felt was as if time just stopped (except for the fact that I have to remember to fanatically kick- kick-kick my fins). The second shark was in shallower waters and hence cannot dive but instead just circled around, which gave us the opportunity to spend ages with the shark, via numerous drops into the waters. I remember one particular drop where once I got into the water, I saw the shark coming straight at me, with its open mouth, and I panicked!!

However, in that split second, I made the decision to snap a picture (as attached), before I quickly swim out of the shark’s way. Chasing after the whale sharks also made me realise how physically unfit I am! Some of us also saw a turtle while we were swimming after the whale shark, and was torn between making a de-tour to take pictures of the turtle, or to continue swimming after the whale shark.


Leah and myself got a bit seasick on the boat after a few drops into the water, and couldn't take any of the lovely lunch that was served on the boat. The day out in the waters ended with another snorkel episode. All in all, the trip out was wonderful and we are happy snorkelers.

For dinner, we had Mexican food that was kindly prepared by Leah and Tanya (even though they are as tired as the rest of us after our first day out "whale-sharking").

Post dinner, Steve Lindfield, winner of the Rolex Underwater Scholarship in 2008 gave a presentation on the "Year of his life", summarized in a 15 minute powerpoint presentation. In that year, Steve visited various dive sites in Indonesia, Canada, Australia, US, Egypt and other countries and had the opportunity to worked with various marine biologist and dive masters. My thoughts were “this award is so much better than the Queensland Tourism Hamilton Island Dream Job”.

And to end this wonderful day of “First Whale Shark Encounter”, Brad made us some wonderful dessert...yum yum!

-Doris