Whale Shark Snorkeling Trip

This past Sunday I was fortunate to have a once in a lifetime experience, the chance to snorkel with whale sharks.  Here within the Gulf of Tadjorah, whale sharks gather to feed every year in one specific section of coast. 

The trip left early Sunday morning on a very unusual looking boat.  The only way I can describe it is comparing it to a Chinese junk.  It had a full shape, squared off stern and a rear second deck that served as a sundeck.  The ride down the coast took about 1.5 hours with the seas. 

We passed a line of Japanese warships that were waiting to fuel at the oil piers, the JMSDF is here on anti-piracy missions. 

Once the main boat was moored at a ball on a reef, the two launches that were towed from port were prepared.  We loaded into them and motored about 2 more miles down the coast into another cove.  We suited up in snorkel gear while heading down there.  They instructed us that once down right off the shore in this cove, we should look for two fins protruding the water, about 10-15 feet apart, which would be the dorsal and tail fins of the whale shark.  It runs just along the surface with its mouth open for feeding.  The launch would take us in the direction that it was going and drop us so that it would swim right towards us.  We motored for about 10 minutes, looking for the fins before we spotted them. 

We rolled out of the boat to face this beast…

The snorkelers in this shot gives some perspective of its size.  This ended up being a juvenile. 

It was great diving down and looking up at these sharks.  The just swam along slowly, not too bothered by us.  We were instructed to just stay out of its way and not to touch it.  They  did not warn us that it may touch us.  I was run over twice by these leviathans; they would just turn and run into me, and I would just try to carefully push off/move away without spooking it more.

This shot is after being hit by one.  We all had to keep clear of their massive tails, even young ones had tails nearly 5 feet tall. 

Here is one actually feeding, its mouth open wide engulfing the water filled with plankton.  

Another shot giving some good perspective…

This is our skiff filled with people happily heading back to the main boat after seeing the whale sharks.

The beach is actually the amphibious operations center for the French, which the US often utilizes. 

After the whale shark snorkeling, we were left off on the boat and began snorkeling the reef where we moored.  ‘Finger reef’  was very nice, a finger of shallow coral that sticks out into the cove, dropping off to about 100 feet.  This is a spotted grouper with a banded shrimp tucked in a hole in the coral.

This is a crown of thorns starfish, I think, that is the best identification I could do.

Two very large feather duster worms, much larger than anything I have ever seen.  They were nearly 4 inches across.

Beautiful butterfly fish. 

Giant clam, there are many of these pictures, and each one have very different and vibrant coloration.

Another one of these iridescent groupers, I am absolutely fascinated with them.  Now if I can only snap the shot before they swim away.

Juvenile angelfish, it was so bright compared to the gray and green dead coral behind it.

This school of fish was darting all over this small coral formation.

Another couple giant clams, all of these are about 8-10 inches long. 

These young angelfish are just so beautiful, I keep taking pictures of every one I see.

The giant clams almost look like they are painted when they are underwater.

A blue spot stingray, those dots nearly glow below the surface.

Here is the first chance I got to catch a diver swimming by some of these coral formations to show their size.  The diver is at about 30-40 feet, which is the zone where these corals grow the largest. 

This is what the shallow part of the reef looked like, unfortunately this shot was taken when it was cloudy, the camera ran out of battery power when the sun came out, but the waves of light traveling over the colorful coral was mesmerizing. 

Another crazy looking giant clam.  We need these in the Keys…