Day 1

whale shark back

Hi guys!

Day one of the trip has been anazing! We were lucky enough to see 8 different whale sharks today, the smallest being about 4 metres in length and the largest about 8 metres! (but i promise you i wasn't scared......even if Mr Bradley says i was!) It really is an unreal thing to do, to swim these giants of the deep. We took lots of photos today and hopefully these will be on the site by tomorrow so make sure you keep checking back regularly. How are your lessons going, i hope your enjoying them! Make sure you ask me anything you would like to know about whale sharks and i will do my best to answer them.

P.S When i flew up to Exmouth yesterday we flew straight over Kalbarri and i stuck my hand out of the window of the plane and waved to you all..did you see me!?

Stay cool, Mr Sherborne

Day 2

G'day guys!

Well what an interesting day we had today up here in the wonderful Ningaloo marine park. Today we were on a different boat than yesterday and the day started out well with us seeing a breaching (jumping) Humpback whale really close to the boat...wow! We stayed with this whale for about 15 minutes watching it jump out of the water and perform for us, everyone on the boat was really excited.

We left the Humpback whale and went off in search of our first whale shark for the day...and it didn't take too long to find it. It was a small boy shark, infact the same shark we saw yesterday. We jumped out and swam with him and i think he was happy to see us because he let us swim along with him for ages. We jumped back on the boat and then things started going a bit wrong....our boat broke down!! It looked like our day was going to end early but then the other boats in the area came to our rescue and we were able to jump on board another boat and continue the adventure....phew!

The rest of the day was great, we swam with two of the biggest whale sharks we have seen so far. They were about 9 metres long and and just cruising along letting us take photos of them which we will look at tomorrow in the lab, hopefully we can find a match!

Hope your all enjoing your lessons and make sure you send me some questions to answer.

Bye for now, Mr Sherborne

Day 3

G'day guys,

Today i was not in the water swimming with the whalesharks unfortunatley, but doing something just as important!

Today our team was in the lab looking at all the photos we have taken over the past few days and trying to identify which sharks were new and which sharks had been seen before, somewhere around the world. Don't forget that this is the amazing thing about the ecocean website, it doesn't matter where a particular shark may have been seen before, it can still be reported and see whether or not it is visiting us here in the pristine Ningaloo marine Park from a completely different part of the world....how exciting!!

We did make some exciting discoveries today and i really enjoyed learning about how Brad Norman and his team monitor whalesharks from all over the world. I hope you guys are enjoying learning about these magnificent creatures and i look forward to sharing my experiences with you very soon. Please get on the teachlive website www. teachlive.org and send me all those questions you have been dying to know about whalesharks!

Cheers, Mr Sherborne

Day 4

Hi Guys,

Well today was a bit of a sad day for me because it was my last chance to swim with the Whale sharks! Our team has been split into 2 groups for the week and we have been taking it in turns to got out on the boats and swim with the sharks and today was my groups last turn.

Luckily we had the best day of our trip so far. We were on a big boat called Ecean Eco, had our own spotter plane to find the sharks for us and were fortunate enough to see lots of Whale sharks. The first shark we saw was one of the biggest we have seen so far, around 9 meters long....what a beauty! Infact all the sharks we saw today seemed to be really big ones unlike other days when we would see some smaller sharks and other larger ones. I love seeing the big sharks because they are just awesome to be close to. The sharks today were behaving a bit differently to other days aswell and Brad Norman who we are working with, thinks it was because the water temperature was not quite the same today and this forced the plankton which Whale Sharks love to eat to be both high and lower in the water when normally they are near the surface. It was almost as if the Whale Sharks were playing hide and seek with the boat sometimes and at one stage a huge shark came up next to the boat and then as soon as we got in it swam down deep where we couldn't see it.....cheeky shark!

It was a great last day to be out on the water and an even better way to finish my last dive with the Whale Sharks of Ningaloo Reef.

Cheers, Mr Sherborne

Day 5

Hi Guys,

As i told you yesterday, we take it in turns to go out on the boats and today was our turn to go back into the lab for the last time and work on identifying all the sharks we have taken photos over past week. Sometimes computers and i don't get along very well but today we had a great day together and actually got some good work done!! I managed to identify lots of different sharks using the special software that has been developed especially for identifying whale sharks by NASA scientists! We identified sharks that have not been seen at Ningaloo since the year 2000 which was exciting and also proves that Whale Sharks enjoy coming back to Ningaloo year after year. We also identified a shark that had only been seen a few weeks earlier but when we looked at the photos from when it was seen yesterday it seemed to have new scar across the back of its head. We have our theories as to what might have caused this scar but i want you guys to get on the Whalesharks.org website, scroll down the right hand side to where it says go to and enter shark number A-184 and see what you think might have caused this new scar. When you think you know what might have caused it jump back on the teachlive website and let me know your theories!

Cheers Dudes, Mr Sherborne

Day 6

G'day Guys,

What a great last day i have had in Exmouth today. We began the day with a snorkel at a spot called The Lighthouse Bombie which was one of the best snorkels i have had in my whole life! The water was crystal clear and there were so many fish i didn't know where to look! I saw lots of amazing coloured fish aswell as a large cod called Charlie who lives in this part of the reef. There were white tip reef sharks, huge sting rays and i had the most amazing encounter with a Hawksbill turtle which let me swim with it for ages! I got lots of pictures and some video which of course i will show you when i get home.

After our snorkel we headed back to the house for lunch and then in the afternoon spent a couple of hours in the lab finishing off some work with the photos. In the afternoon we went up to the lighthouse for a picnic and to watch the sunset which was beautiful. This was a fantastic way to finish the trip and a great way to reflect on what we had done and seen on the Ningaloo reef over the past week....i will definately be back to visit the Whale Sharks as soon as i can!

Tomorrow i fly back to Perth and then i will be back to Kalbarri on Saturday which i am looking forward to. Can't wait to share my experiences and photos with all of you very soon!

Cheers, Mr Sherborne