Day 92 25th July 2014 Friday. Up and waiting for pick up at 7.45am to join our tour group, 3 Islands Whale Shark Dive for our Swim with the Whale Sharks. We went to Tantabiddi Boat Ramp and boarded our boat – Draw Card. We headed off Mangrove Bay inside the reef for our first practice reef snorkel and to become familiar with the gear we had been given. It was good to have a wet suit as the water was a little cool. We snorkelled around for 30 min looking at the reef and the marine life. Again a lot of colourful fish everywhere. We then cruised the turquoise waters while the plane was trying to spot a whale shark. We saw turtles, dolphins and a group of hump back whales. Lunch was provided and was salad and cold meats. Kevin managed to get a few chicken breast pieces of meat so he was happy. It was quite chilly on the back of the boat and most people removed their wet suit while waiting for the whale shark sightings. There were 4 other tour boats and one other plane in the sky spotting for the whale shark. The time was passing and we continued to track a group of humpback whales and the crew were even starting to discuss the ‘no sighting’ policy when word came that the spotter planes had found one. By now a lot of people were over it and wanted to go home but “NO” a whale shark had been spotted and we were going to swim with it. Well it was an amazing magical moment. We got to enter the water twice and snorkel around the gentle giant of the sea whale shark and be amazed at the size, 7m. There were small fish swimming below it and it didn’t seem fazed by 10 people snorkelling alongside of it. We swam for only 5 minutes at a time and then the next 10 people would hop in the water. Once it was over the chatter among the people on the boat was buoyant and carefree. We swam with a whale shark!!!!. We were late getting home at 6.00pm when we were due at 4.30pm and mum and dad were starting to get worried. Again didn’t feel like cooking and Kevin got his own tea.
