I arrived in Exmouth last Thursday... not even a week ago, but SO much has gone on. I'm out here primarily to do my dive instructors course, making me eligible to teach diving (once I pass...). The other reason I'm out here is for the amazing marine wildlife.
So I got into town on Thursday, but my course didn't start until Monday. In the meantime, aside from studying course work, I was also able to volunteer on some of the shop's boats including.... the WHALESHARK BOAT!!!
We went out on Sunday and from the beginning it was perfect. The sun was shining and warm (which has not been the norm since I've been out here) and the wind was calm (also not the norm...). On the way out to the reef, before we even got in the water, before we were even at the reef, we saw a dugong, which is Australia's version of a manatee... they're not quite as fat as Florida's sea cows and more brown in color. I've been wanted to see one since I've been out here, so right off the bat, I was ecstatic.
We first did a small snorkel, just to ensure everyone was comfortable in the water before we started snorkeling with the whalesharks. After ensuring everyone was confident, we set off to find our sharks! On the way to find the sharks, we saw three manta rays feeding in some shallow water, so we decided to get a little sidetracked and jumped in the water! It was incredible, when we got in the water, there was only one of the three hanging around, but it was amazing. I've been waiting to see a manta ray since I started diving and have had some pretty unlucky misses over the years, but finally, FINALLY got to swim with one.
After our manta ray adventure, we all got back on the boat and went to hunt down one of those big spotty fish...
Basically, there are spotter planes cruising around looking for big giant sharks. The planes call the boats, and the boats go to the sharks. One of the crew jumps in the water with the shark and after the boat works its way around in a good direction, everyone else jumps in and swims along side, a few meters away. The first shark we found was about 5 or 6 meters long (15-18ish feet) We were able to get in with it for quite a while, it was really cooperative and didn't dive away into the depths. A little later we found a few bigger sharks, closer to 8 meters (22 - 24ish feet). These weren't as cooperative and after a few minutes they dove into the deep blue sea. But still AMAZING to see.
Now, if a dugong, one manta ray and a total of four different whalesharks wasn't enough, we found an area on the reef where there were about A DOZEN manta rays feeding. We jumped in the water with them and unlike the first manta in the morning that bolted pretty quickly, these ones were not even slightly bothered by our presence. Some of them got so close, one even bumped into me! I'm not sure who it startled more! The most I could see at one time was five. Whenever one swam away, you would turn around and find two more swimming in from the other direction. It was the most incredible moment, something like you would see on Discovery Channel, but in real life.
Since then, its been a little less fun and excitement... I've started my dive instructor course. It's going to be A LOT of work, 8 or 9 days of classroom and pool training followed up by a very scary two-day exam. It's a ton of theory, mock student training, rescue scenarios and classroom presentations. Like I said, its going to be A LOT of work, but hopefully it will be equally as rewarding. It's been going well so far, but this is only the beginning (cue ominous music...).
Hopefully I'll have some more amazing stories to add to the not quite as exciting dive training this week!
Love and fishes!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment