Exmouth

Temperatures: May/June:

Water temperature average 24 degrees

Exmouth is a small resort town on Western Australia’s North West Cape; a gateway to nearby Ningaloo Marine Park with its coral reefs, colourful fish and migratory whale sharks.  The Ningaloo Coast is a World Heritage Site of 705,015-hectares located approximately 1,200 kilometres north of Perth, along the East Indian Ocean.

The whale shark migratory season begins in March and ends in August and although they are a wild animal and no guarantee is possible, the aim is for us to visit the reef at a good time during the season to experience the spectacle of these animals.

The whale shark is the world's largest living fish/shark, however, very little is still known about the biology and ecology of the animal. As recent as the 1980s, there was only 320 confirmed sightings worldwide! 

It is believed that Whale sharks can live around 100 years, reaching maturity at around 30 years of age. The largest non-scientifically recorded whale shark was around 18 metres in length, however on average they reach sizes of up to 12 metres.  In the Ningaloo the most common size of Whale shark is around 4-6m, with some reaching up to 10m.  (A 12 metre shark may weigh as much as 11 tonnes and have a mouth over 1.5m wide!)

Whale sharks are identified by three prominent ridges along each side of their body and a distinct pattern of white spots and stripes against a dark blue/grey skin. The skin on the back of the whale shark is thicker and tougher than that of any other animal in the world. The outer layer is covered in overlapping dermal denticals, much like a suit of armor.  The spots and stripes on the whale sharks are for camouflage, by reflecting and dispersing light their outline is harder to make out to predators.

Whale sharks have been reported in tropical and warm temperate seas. They are found in in both coastal and oceanic waters in water temperatures of 18°C to 30°C. The diet of Whale sharks consists primarily of plankton, krill and other small organisms. Ningaloo Reef is one of only a few places in the world where whale sharks appear regularly in near-shore waters in number, where they are easily accessible to observers. The whale sharks swim and feed in the waters around the Ningaloo Marine Park from March to August before disappearing from the area for another year.

Whale sharks are not the only wildlife experience the reef can offer.  The area is renowned for its manta rays, humpbacks, dolphins, dugongs, huge cod, turtles, and over 500 tropical fish species and 200 species of coral.