July 7: Swimming with Sharks Stuns
I may have missed out on being great white shark bait nine days ago, but today’s surreal underwater experience involved swimming with three different types of sharks, several sea turtles, and even manta rays. The most amazing part? Seeing several of these stunning creatures getting cleaned on top of a coral reef.
Heading out to the Ningaloo Reef this morning, my tour boat first stopped at the outer reef so we could snorkel in the deeper waters, taking in beautiful brown, grey, and black coral formations populated by some of the larger ocean animals. Viewing the vast underwater world through our snorkel masks we encountered white and black tip reef sharks gliding by, maneuvering around the open area with their strong dorsal fins.
After relocating to Bateman Bay, we jumped off the boat’s marlin board into the shallow water to make our way to the manta rays pointed out to us by an overhead pilot.
Swimming directly above these beautiful sea creatures for several minutes, I became mesmerized by their large, wing-like shiny grey pectoral fins flapping up and down, helping them glide slowly beneath us. Some of them had their cephalic lobes curled inward to gather food while others who were not eating had these appendages curled up like a roll of paper. Amazing!
From there we headed to the inner reef for what I would consider the highlight of the day – visiting one of the world’s few shallow sea cleaning stations.
Hovering over this cabbage shaped corral, my breath caught at the sight of several grey reef sharks and a sea turtle, stationing themselves carefully on the corral to have their bodies by little blue cleaner fish. Some of the fish even swam inside the sharks’ mouths to clean them! Apparently, the sharks recognize the benefits of this process and rarely choose to take one of the little fish in as an afternoon snack.
After watching this magical spectacle unfold, I then left the rest of my group and followed several of the sea turtles along the edge of the reef, noting the beautiful patterns on their shells, their front flippers propelling them slowly forward, and their back flippers keeping them balanced. With no bubbles from nearby snorkelers or flippers in my face, I felt delightfully alone with these magnificent creatures.
From the deck of our ship today we were also treated to sightings of several tiger sharks, a humpback whale, a cluster of dugongs, and even a large pod of humpback dolphins including a female being pursued by males who then mated with her.
When our boat pulled back into Coral Bay, the pale green shallow ocean waters contrasted spectacularly with the sun shining on the honey and brown colored rocks lining the jetty, the light blue sky above, and a dynamic mixture of white cotton candy shaped clouds and more ominous storm clouds. I am lucky my sea outing was for today as the tours for the next two days will be canceled due to the high winds and large waves. What a great day at sea!
