Yesterday was a spectacular day, definitely the highlight of the trip so far. Anne and I climbed aboard the "Darling Isabelle" and spent a day searching for and swimming with the elusive whale shark. 
I still can't believe we did it. A thousand photographic and emotional memories are surging through my brain remembering it all. We started off with a short snorkel training session on Ningaloo Reef. The water was very choppy and the visibility wasn't great, but who am I to complain!? We saw plenty of coral and colorful fish, but the best was yet to come.
The next hour or so was spent cruising along the reef and waiting for the spotter plane to find our boat a whale shark. Once one was found, the Darling Isabelle cranked up her engines for full speed ahead. We were separated into two groups of 10, A and B, and were told to don our gear. Group A was in first. They were given about 5 minutes in the water and told to stop swimming so us, Group B, could have a go. Unfortunately, the whale dove and group B was was forced to wait for the next session. A few minutes later, we were shouted at again to get our gear on and before I knew it, I was swimming along a 40 foot whale shark! Words cannot describe my emotions and I know that sounds silly, but this is something I've been wanting to do for a very long time!
I wasn't scared (at first) and oddly, I wasn't excited. I could feel the adrenaline, but I was relaxed. I'm sure I wore a huge grin through my snorkel despite the fact that I was breathing and swallowing more salt water than anyone would like. I would have been satisfied with the first session, but I was allowed 4 more. I couldn't get enough of it. During the third session, I jumped into the water after the crew yelled "swimmers in!" and swam towards the spotter swimmer who was near the shark. I stopped to gain my bearings and to figure out where the shark was only to realize it was swimming straight at me. Whale sharks feed on plankton, but with a mouth big enough to feed a 30 ton animal, who wouldn't freak out at one swimming directly towards them. For a half second, I was paralyzed. The gap between us was shrinking by the millisecond and all I could do was stare. It was a game of chicken and if I didn't swim out of the way, I was going to lose! Luckily, my survival instincts slapped me across the face and I swam/flailed away as fast as I could.
A lot of people were finished after the third session. To maximize swim time between the two groups, the boat crew was very militant about us being prepared to swim and getting us in and out of the water. It tired a lot of people. It worked out great for me. I was one of about 5 people who wanted to swim the last session and it lasted the longest, about 15 minutes. The shark seemed to warm up to us. 
In previous sessions, it would decide it was finished with us and dive deep into the blue, far beyond what I could swim or see, forcing the swimmers back onto the boat. But on the last session, our hour with this particular shark was up (boats are legally allowed 1 hour of interaction with individual sharks). Despite being tired from keeping up with the shark (freestyle swimming with fins to keep up), we reluctantly returned to the boat. The shark lingered around the boat, circling as if calling us back to play. But all good things must come to an end and within a few minutes, it dove and was gone.
Besides whale sharks, we were also able to see humpback whales, spinner dolphins and loggerhead turtles on our snorkeling adventure. Apparently, a humpback whale swam within 50 meters of my group while we were in the water, but we were all so occupied with the whale shark, none of us noticed.
Other wildlife I've seen since leaving Perth are bottlenosed dolphins, Australian pelicans and lots of feral goats. I spotted two roos while we were hiking through a gorge along the Murchison River in Kalbarri National Park.
Ken only saw a tail as it hopped up the rocks and Anne missed it completely. We're hoping to spot some today on our drive to Turquoise bay to do some shore snorkeling.
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