I managed to swim alongside a 7m male for over a minute. I had to swim away when he turned towards me as you are restricted from being in front of a whale shark and must keep 3 and 4 meters away from the sides and tail respectively.
Unfortunately I don't have any underwater pictures as my underwater camera seals failed (probably due to a long period of no use). Luckily, the tour company had a photographer snorkelling with us and we pick up the complimentary DVD on Thursday. Hopefully there will be some good shots I can share with you.
The seas outside the reef were calm today and the water warm. There were plenty of whale sharks in the area and a seaplane acts as a spotter. Given the number of boats going out (see photo) it was surprising that we didn't have to compete with anyone to snorkel beside the sharks.
We went with the 3 Islands Whale Shark Dive Ningaloo and I can't speak highly enough of this company. They made sure everyone, no matter how inexperienced, got a chance to swim beside the sharks even to the extent where they would give you a tow if you were struggling to keep up. Unbelievably, I didn't need a tow - perhaps this was more due to the speed of the shark's swim than my ability. The crew would do as much as possible to assist everyone - when I had trouble reaching my flippers underwater to take them off prior to climbing the ladder back to the boat, one of the crew dived down and took them off for me. They always had at least one crew member in the water to help you with positioning, a crew member in a dinghy positioned behind the shark to help locate it and a further crew member taking photos. If there are more than 10 people on board, the group splits into 2 and an additional crew member takes the second group. The groups then alternate swimming with the sharks. The trip isn't cheap at $385 per person, but it is worth every penny.
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