11 - First whale shark spotted!

October 28, 2011

It all happened on Wednesday, what an exciting day it was! Just for background information, the whale shark season has been really bad this year. Technically, October is the best month to spot whale sharks. But with the monsoon and the winds not shifting, the water currents did not change either and the upwelling of the plankton from colder waters did not happen… meaning the whale sharks are not migrating over here since there is no food.

Anyways, back to the story. Dive C was on Manta (the boat) getting ready to dive when they saw a whale shark right in our bay – which is very rare since our bay is shallow and it’s a bay. It was a little guy, probably only 3-4 meters long. Anyways, I was lying in bed reading with Kanina when Joe, a staff member, runs past our room shouting “WHALE SHAAAARRKKKK”. Kanina and I literally ran out of our room and ran to the bay to check it out, knowing we might not be able to see anything. The staff was getting ready on Dexter (the smaller boat) to drive there. We asked if we could come in and at first they were like “no we don’t have enough life jackets.” I think we almost cried. But they finally gave in and we ran to the boat. We didn’t have any fins, masks or snorkels, but we figured someone would be keen enough to lend us something for 5 minutes. We arrived at the site and I just swam my heart out. I am SO GLAD I’m a swimmer! I just swam faster than anyone else, even people who had fins and masks on.  I arrived at the site and someone just gave me a mask and put it on, and the whale shark was right below me! It was so beautiful and graceful! I didn’t have a camera with me but some guys got great shots and videos of it! 

Apparently it went all the way to the surface and really close to the divers. I missed all of this but I still got to see it! I was actually the only person from Dexter to see it, and this just because I swim so fast. But I’m still thankful I was at the right place at the right time, because some people from the base missed it by simply being in the kitchen or sleeping. Anyways, it is very exciting for all of us, since it means they are finally here! It is a very small island and words go around really quickly, and probably 20 minutes later we had 10 boats in our bay! There is also apparently a manta ray right at the corner of the bay and more whale sharks a little further down south! Wee!

The weather has been really amazing at the beginning of the week so all of us got some sun. I even dove without my wetsuit during two days. Most of us have finally started coral surveys, so we are not diving with staff members anymore. We are basically dropped in survey sites and we have to complete three quadrat survey each. We are basically head first in the coral the whole time, looking for coral recruits, meaning between 0.1 and 5 cm. I do not have a photo of us doing quads yet, but I will try to find one for the next blog! In the meantime, here are some photos of home!

I have been feeling much better for the last couple of days, and am finally able to do other activities. I went on a 2 hour snorkel with some other guys, and we saw lots of turtles, stingrays and a couple of lemon sharks. I even free dove to 10m to scare Ben as he was diving, and it really worked. It was hilarious and he looked very confused to see a snorkeler. People here are amazed of my lung capacity, and they all give me their cameras when we see a shark or turtles deep below because they know I can stay down there for a while and take a good photo.

This weekend is the last weekend for the volunteers staying 5 weeks. I cannot believe it’s already time to say goodbye, where did time go? Even though I’m really trying to make the most of every moment, I still feel like time is slipping in between my fingers. Claire is leaving, which makes everyone in our little “gang” really bummed, but hey, life goes on. We are going to get 7 new volunteers for the last 5 weeks, and we are all really excited for new blood on base.